PLAYGROUND

Summary:

Your study on the monster origins leads you to seeking out ways of venturing into the underground. Now that they roam the earth side by side with humans, it’s your job to research their history and find out more about them. Your friend, colleague, and the ambassador of the monsters, Frisk, however refuses to help you… so once mistakes have been made, you find yourself having to count on a brand new friend to return to the surface.

Notes:

> Edited Work Title for easier finding (the spaces between the letters probably didn't help.)

>Even though there are other characters tagged, this story mainly revolves around Flowey x Reader(For literally 99.9% of the story) so if you don't like don't read.>This story may contain lime and lemon. Yes, we said that back in the day in original fanfics-- if you do not know what that means then do your research.>This is a story driven fanfic, not a groin driven one(maybe).>I try to keep the reader(you) as gender-neutral as possible as well as Frisk.

And a more serious note:>To me Flowey is NOT A CHILD and especially is not one in this story(I'm not into that sorta thing and if you are escort yourself to the local jail). At this point if you think of Flowey as a child and cannot age them up or disassociate them with another [spoiler] character then you probably don’t want to read this. Any hate comments or bashing will be deleted. I always appreciate critiques but never down right hate.

Chapter Text

P L A Y GROUND

Chapter One: You Were Warned

The moment you read the textbooks, and studied the websites on monsterkind and their history, was the moment you knew where your future would take you.

Ever since you were younger you always had a hint of hope that you would manage to find someone who was unique, different, unlike regular human beings. Even at such a young age where you didn’t get to meet a lot of people with different backgrounds and ideas, you were simply bored of day to day life. There was a strange yet scarcely thin line between whether monsters were apart of myth and legend, or whether they were actually real and the human history had been true. It was strange from the fact that the stories told about a group of magicians sealing the monsters away at the base of Mount Ebott… and yet there had been no known humans to use such ‘magic’ ever since.

So whether it were all true or false was beyond yourself, but you chose to believe it was all real.

When you were little you went through many teachers and schools, half of said instructors informed your class of them simply being stories to keep children from wandering off, the other half said they were far too real for any actual comprehension. You remembered your parents marching to the school to tell teachers to keep their ‘magical stories’ out of your head, and you wished you were allowed to use your own voice.

It didn’t help that as you grew up children began missing. You remember there used to be a child you played with when the two of you were fairly small, and one day they simply vanished. You moved on from trying to hunt them down, after all, no one who vanishes winds up being found again, much to your dismay…

That was until another event happened that proved no child would ever get lost again.

There was a special day in your childhood as you grew up, a day when another child had been found. Not only that, but it was a day that the child found their way out and brought a few friends along with. You were definitely proud to be alive the day that said child had emerged from having been lost for more than a month, and with a rather large parade of MONSTERS behind them. They all walked together, rather merrily and content, most of them grinning so widely that it was somewhat frightening and yet heartwarming all at the same time. The supposed war had been more than a decade or two ago, so while no one considered their dangers or if everyone would get along, you could imagine some of the persons simply being afraid. Considering some of the monsters that were headed to your town were ghosts, waddling eyeballs, and singing fish.

The child who came from the underground was Frisk, and it was said that they chose the role of being the monsters permanent ambassador for as long as they remained. Which, you hoped and was assumed, would be for a very long time.

As you aged, you befriended Frisk and many of the monsters that came to the surface with them. You never did realize the little things in life until a talking skeleton said “WOWIE! Is this grass? I LOVE GRASS!”

With you and Frisk’s interest in the studies and histories of monsterkind, you two went to school together to earn your degrees and become official historians and researchers. Frisk always claimed they were done with adventuring, but you were always ready for a new place to explore; which lead to your focus on archaeology, and their focus on… well, book keeping. Similar to their caretaker, Toriel. Toriel was always more than eager to assist the two of you in your work, as well as feed you the amazing pleasures of butterscotch cinnamon pie(and the displeasures of snail pie, which you and Frisk agreed was not your favorite.)

Your past was full of adventure and hope even before you knew of the monster's existence, and only continued to move forward now that it had been many years since their official arrival.

Here you are, while not too young to be deemed as unprofessional, you weren’t old enough to be taken seriously. Frisk often times wound up with the same problem unless waving their ‘Monster Ambassador’ and ‘Historian’ badge around. You, however, could only wave Frisk around as your “I’m important too!” sign. You hadn’t gotten to travel or adventure as much as you’d like, and as much as you’ve wanted. You were the perfect age of maturity, a lovely appearance that matched your curious mind and charming personality. As charming as you were, though, you were worried that overstepping your boundaries would cause your charm to deplete.

You wanted to go underground, specifically, to where the monsters once lived.

How to bring this up to Frisk, though, was the real question. Of course you didn’t exactly need their permission, you just wished for their blessing-- though if they wanted to tag along that would be even better. They were the spokesperson for all of monsterkind, while not the king (Which was a title supposedly belonging to Mr. Asgore, who ‘denounced’ his throne the moment they reached the surface and yet most monsters still look to him rather than Frisk for advice and information) they still played an important role on whether this or that can be discussed, poked at, or studied. They were only trying to keep the monsters safe, after all, and their position was for the sake of not having another war that sent monsters OR humans locked up underground.

Would requesting permission to head to their place of origin really cause such a fuss?

“Yes, it would.” Frisk told you rather bluntly on the day that you gathered enough courage to ask them permission. Shot down before you could fly, what a charmer indeed.

Frisk had a slightly-tanned complexion, their hazel eyes were narrowed away from you and towards their paperwork. They had mid-length brown hair, that matched their blue and brown suit and tie outfit, and to you they dressed more mature than necessary for their age (well, excluding the somewhat childish heart-shaped friendship locket they kept around their neck). You two were around the same age anyway, and yet you liked to go out and interview and definitely not dress fanciful for the sake of keeping up appearances. The only difference between the two of you was that they were some fancy ambassador, if it weren’t for that you two would be total equals and you wouldn’t have to report to them about these sorts of matters.

“How?” You asked, with your eyes narrowed as well in annoyance. Not over the fact that they rejected your suggestion, but the fact that Frisk looked disinterested as if they didn’t even pay you any attention. “It’s empty, right? There shouldn’t be any problem with me going down there to start digging up things. What if there were monsters who even forgot a few things that they’d want back? We’ve had reports of requested valuables because everyone thinks we might’ve kept them as ‘historical artifacts’.”

“I said no, didn’t I? I’m pretty sure I’m speaking English…” Frisk mumbled to themselves more so than speaking to you, still shuffling through papers before finally picking up a pen and scribbling down notes “At least I think so…”

“Frisk, seriously.”

It was hard to keep your composure, they didn’t often show much emotion even if they were happy or sad or, in this case, just as irritated as you were. Frisk always kept a rather ‘content’ expression on their features. Maybe that was the difference(other than ambassador status) between you two, you were expressionFUL and they were expressionLESS. “You can even take a day or two to think it over, it would be great for our research and books! Think about it, I’m sure even Ms. Toriel would like some--”

“No means no .” Frisk interrupted, but you persisted “ No means that you’re trying to hide something! Either that, or you’re just worried that whatever I find down there will rank me higher.” As an example, you lifted your arm and hand upward as if it were a ‘height’ issue rather than anything else. Frisk finally set down their things to stare at you, you could’ve sworn you saw red in their eyes.

“Whether it’s empty or… not , it’s dangerous down there.” Frisk breathed out rather tiredly, as if they had gone over this before. Who knew whether monsters came to them asking to go back down for some things? All you knew was that this was your first time making any sort of request to travel for the sake of study, and this was also your first time being shot down.

They continued “The entrance is sealed off anyway, for safety purposes. There’s no way in.”

“What sort of safety? ” You demanded, somewhat growling at finding this out “Why are you keeping everyone out?!”

After having said this, Frisk had suddenly slammed their hands down on their desk, lifting up out of their seat almost immediately. This easily caused you to back away and gasp from shock, but you still continued, even with a quivering lip “What are you… keeping in then? ”

There was a glint in Frisk’s eye, whether it was from some sort of magic or whether it was an actual spark, it was red and devilish.

“I’m not going to repeat myself anymore, so listen as best as you can.” Frisk breathed out, their voice was low, and their eyes were stuck to yours like glue. You couldn’t even peel your own away from theirs if you had tried. “It is dangerous down there. There is no way in… and no way out. And there is nothing of interest to you there. ”

So now you knew there was definitely something of interest to you there.

“ Fine. ” You managed in a faint voice, though your mind was full of anger, your lungs couldn’t express it. You felt your soul pumping out of your chest, but you swallowed the lump in your throat as a way to ease your fear. You never saw Frisk like this, it was very very hard to get them angry, but apparently you did so rather easily. “If you don’t see me walking around at work for a few days, it’s because I’m depressed.” You dramatically posed, holding the back of your hand to your forehead. Though you were somewhat scared, you were thankful that this action caused Frisk to smile, and they relaxed and sat themselves back down in their seat.

“You still haven’t used your vacation time.” Frisk decided to add in, returning to looking down at their paperwork “And I’m getting tired of your face anyway so I wouldn’t complain.”

“GASP.” You breathed out as dramatically as you posed “But Frisk I thought we had something special!”

Frisk laughed, suddenly whispering with good reason “Yeah, as special as mom’s snail pie.”

You puffed out your cheeks and smiled, trying to contain your laugh as you turned on your heel and waved, signalling your departure. The moment your back was facing Frisk was the moment your cheery expression dropped.

The act was set, you knew what to do.

You walked out of their office and knew that you’d be packing your things the moment you got back to your small apartment, whether Frisk approved or not didn’t matter at this point.

Summary:

Notes:

Chapter Text

Chapter Two: You Were Betrayed

You ransacked your apartment for all the essentials. You’ve seen plenty of movies and done plenty of research to determine what sorts of things were needed and what sorts of things weren’t when it came to adventuring into the unknown. You may have imagined and wished for adventure in your life, however this would be your first one. Rope was especially important, not just from what you had found out, but from the context clues Frisk had given you.

There is no way in… and no way out.

Well, you could make your own entrance of course. And with that entrance you’ll make sure you mark where it’s located with the rope so you can then leave when you’re finished. You left Frisk’s office giving them the implication you would be taking vacation time off, so you would have a week to do your own underground studies and manage to get back in time before they even noticed your absence. Not that they would, apparently. Frisk joked that it would be more relieving to not show your face for awhile.

Har har. Where’d Frisk learn to be such a tease?

Rope, some medical supplies, a flashlight, and your tool roll with trusty pickaxe. You made sure to get your biggest water bottle, and of course some dry food rations for in the case of an emergency. You dressed yourself in some khaki shorts, long white socks that reached mid-shin and your steel-toed boots to help with any terrain dilemmas you might encounter. You wanted to stay comfortable as well as safe. You wore a rather thin shirt, but on top of that a khaki jacket that was weather resistant(you hoped). You looked just like an archaeologist that would be from the films, and though you weren’t sure if other archaeologists dressed as such in the real world, you figured that it didn’t matter what other people thought of your attire. You were on a mission, and you were way too excited to care for anyone’s judgement.

You kept your cellphone in your pocket as you went to your car in the parking lot, fumbling with the keys before climbing into the tiny buggy-shaped vehicle. It was rustic red, looking mighty scratched and run down, but you never much cared for showing off the little wealth you had saved up from your work for the sake of transportation in style, and you only needed the car for driving outside of town on rare few occasions such as this. The town you were in, after all, wasn’t entirely a huge place full of wealthy celebrities and fancy-kind of people, the only fame to its name was the title “Where the monsters first appeared!” And, now that monsters spread farther than the town and lived all over the world, there weren’t always that many visitors besides some travelling for vacation and for, of course, you and Frisk’s historical findings on monsterkind. Actually, the only fancy car you’ve ever really seen up close and personal belonged to a skeleton named Papyrus, who had a really shiny red sports car that was well taken cared of.

The drive to the trail that lead to Mount Ebott was an hour away from town, and even once you parked your car in the gravel filled parking lot, you still had an hours worth of hiking in order to simply find out if what Frisk had said was true. Hoping to call their bluff, you were met with defeat when, by the late afternoon and the red sky simmering like fire, the area where the monsters had exited the underground all those years ago had been completely sealed off. It wasn’t a simple fence type of sealing either, apparently Frisk (or whoever ordered for the underground to be locked up) felt it best to make certain no one could get in or out by cement bricks being stacked as if the exit never existed. And it had been so long since this occurred, that even tiny little vines were growing along the wall. The plants looked surprisingly green and flourishing, considering you couldn’t possibly imagine anyone visiting just to reminisce on the days of old and take care of the flowers here.

What monster would want to remember the days when they were locked underground? And what human would want to remember the days when monsters DIDN'T exist?

So with your disheartening discovery, it took you yet another hour just to get back to your car, and by that time the red sky was growing darker as small white stars began to freckle the deep blue flooding above you. It was, thankfully, still light out by a little bit, and you were curious to find another way in. If the obvious choice was now not so obvious, how else could you get into the underground from out here?

Walking up the alternate trail, the thankfully shabbily blocked off path that only contained a rotten ‘Keep Out, Path Closed’ sign, you began yet another hike. You were walking mostly for the sake of figuring out another way, however it wasn’t until the mountain got steeper that you were reminded of the history of Ebott. Frisk’s past was warning enough, including the other missing children and one of your old childhood friends that climbing the mountain was dangerous. All but one child climbed Mt. Ebott and vanished without a trace. Not only was Frisk’s return a symbol that there was indeed a way to get out, but it also meant that there was a way in and a way to survive . With this in mind, you felt a little better that you weren’t climbing without purpose. Now you realized that there had to have been a way that the children found themselves lost in the mountain. Did they also fall underground only to meet a terrible fate?

Or was the mountain simply like a maze and they were lost until they starved to death? Or worse? You couldn’t recall whether there were wild animals lurking the mountain that might have caused the vanishing of so many people, but it did make you more alert. There were plenty of plants and tree’s, and even flowers that grew about as you trekked. You figured they would have been even more beautiful if it were lighter out, considering by the time you were even half-way up the path you had to pull out your flashlight.

When you finally reach your unrealized destination, you almost took a misstep and plunge deep into it.

Quickly recovering, you instead fall backward and away from the edge of the large, gaping hole that, in the dark, looked like a bottomless pit. To your horror, your mind raced with negative thoughts of corpses being at the bottom of the hole before you. Just the imagery alone made you suddenly afraid, but you knew that with being an archaeologist came these sorts of risks. Discovering new places, discovering the dead, the living, that was what had to be done for the sake of knowledge. You pushed the thoughts aside as you removed your backpack, pulling out the rope and climbing gear you had packed and securing it right at the edge of the hole that descended into the mountain. After you made sure the rope was tight around the hook, and the hook stiff in the earth, you slung the rope over and inside, while watching it with your flashlight shining down into the hole.

The rope from this light looked as if it fell into nothingness. You swallowed the lump in your throat as you placed the artificial light stick between your teeth and held the rope tightly between your(hopefully not too sweaty) fingers. The backpack on your shoulders, you mentally prayed for safety while trying to gather the courage to go down. It was officially night time, the entire sky was dark blue and cluttered with stars, but from where you were at you couldn’t see it, considering all the plants and trees were blocking the sky. You were surrounded by darkness, and were about to descend further into it. A smart thing to do would have been to go home until early morning, or maybe even sleep in the car until it was light again, but no, you really wanted to start your research now.

“Don’t be a coward.” You told yourself through clenched teeth, that still bit down on the light in your mouth as you finally sucked it up and jumped, sliding slowly down the rope and burning your fingers in the process. You knew you’d have blisters that would last for days, your mistake of not packing any sort of hand gear would surely screw up your skin. Half way down(or what you at least hoped was half way) you had stopped to rethink your actions. You had fine arm and leg strength, and of course endurance to go along with it, so climbing down one step at a time wouldn’t be such a big deal, and it’d be easier than sliding down and reaching the bottom only to no longer have usable hands.

With a few grunts you continued down, climbing with one foot after the other, and one hand after the other. A steady pace, to not tire yourself out and not hurt your hands anymore than they already were. Your jaw was already getting tired from being locked around the flashlight anyway, you were already pondering dropping it, but the risk of it breaking permanently kept that from happening.

There was a faint breeze, the inside of the mountain was apparently very cool and, from what you could feel, damp. You heard the trickling of water not too far off, as well as what you figured was a bit of rustling leaves. Besides the natural noises of the mountain, there was complete silence. The shining of your light revealed the hanging cones of the cavern’s ceiling; stalactites, but you were still concerned that you couldn’t see the ground floor.

It smelled somewhat fresh, but also fairly old. Dusty, wet, but also fresh and cool.

You really hoped there weren’t any dead bodies at the end of this.

And just like that, another gentle breeze hit your skin.

It was, surprisingly, warm compared to the cooler breeze you had gotten used to. Almost as if it were someone’s breath against your neck. The thought made you shiver, however just as soon as you could make another downward climb, you felt your rope give way.

You didn’t hear it snapping, it simply didn’t support your weight anymore as the bit you held in your hands went limp like a cooked pasta-noodle. You held onto it as if it would still save you from falling.

Your body rushed, plummeting into the darkness as your teeth let go of the flashlight, your hand let go of the broken rope, and your mind let go of consciousness.

You were freefalling, but for how long you wouldn’t know, considering you were completely unconscious before you slammed into the Earth.

Notes:

>-in whiney voice- i knew i shouldve stayed home todaayyyyyy>Chapters will start to get longer after this im sure so be warned

Summary:

“It’s been a long time, monsters live above ground now so… there’s no game down here for you.”

Your head was rattled, you had no idea what… it was talking about.

Notes:

>There's lime here. But as soon as you see it, its gone.

>You waited too long... now yo candies gawn...

> BGAUUWWWSHHH.

Chapter Text

Chapter Three: You Were Welcomed to Stay

You gasped for breath.

Your eyes shot open as if it were all just a bad dream, and you laid there staring up at a red-orange orb of light. There was nothing but darkness surrounding you, at least from what you could see at the corners of your eyes without moving your head. Staring up at the light, now you were afraid that you were dead. Just the thought of having started a journey only to die by the dumbest means was heart wrenching, let alone disappointing. You willed yourself to live, mentally cheering in hopes of your silent praises being heard by, well, yourself. You wanted to keep going forward. This couldn’t be the end.

“I don’t... want to die…” You whispered hoarsely.

Your mouth was completely dry, and your body was aching yet numb. You couldn’t have been dead if you could feel all the different sensations, right? You forced yourself to return to the reality of the situation. You had fallen into a hole from the top of the Ebott mountain.

As you slowly sat up, you were greeted by the sharp pain in your lower back, as well as your ankle. But it wasn’t just that, the sudden realization and fear that caused your skin to pale was the fact that you couldn’t feel your whole left arm.

Had it dislocated?

“Shit…” You muttered, lifting your right arm to support your left, and as you tried to roll your shoulders you flinched violently and cried out. Biting back the tears that slid down your cheeks, the sharp stinging pain made you want to fall back into a slumber. You had already been screaming out of agony, but you choked it all down and resorted to coughing instead. The nerves sent a wave of pain and close to nausea through the rest of you, your teeth still clenched as tears welled up in your eyes. It was hard to hold back any more tears if they kept falling down anyway.

Blinking them away as best as you could, you looked back up to the glowing orb that you now recognized as the hole you had fallen from. The red-orange glow was the sky, and now you wondered if you had been unconscious for more than just a few hours. You even worried whether it had been an entire day since you had fallen, but you tried to ignore it and focus on the current issue. For now, you had a twisted ankle and a dislocated arm(Or just the shoulder? You weren’t a medical professional.)

Looking around, you wondered how you were even supposed to help yourself. You were sitting in a bed of golden flowers, the same that were scattered about your hometown in vases, in the sidewalk cracks, in the meadows, and even a few on the mountain trail you had climbed from what you remembered. Your mind was a bit hazy, but the flowers were a comforting sight. You wondered how you ever survived such a huge drop, looking back up and noting that the broken rope piece still hung against the edge of the entrance, gently swinging back and forth.

Focus… focus…

“My emergency kit…” You breathed out tiredly, looking around again to scan your surroundings. Your rolled up archaeology tool kit had been tossed open, the tools scattered every which way. This was the same for the emergency kit that you spotted a bit farther than everything else; the gauze, disinfectant, bandages and the like were littering the dampened earth near the walls of the cavern. There was the trickling of water not too far off again, a reminder of what you had heard earlier before your fall, but you had wondered if it were just blood flowing out your ear.

You even used your good arm to check, considering your other arm was completely limp.

Blisters and callouses made your hand rough, and looking it over there was definitely rope burn.

As much as you wanted to sit there and cry, which you did for a good long time, you really needed to figure out what to do now. You were a sitting duck, your supplies scattered all over, and with a busted ankle you weren’t sure how you’d be able to--

Were there… letters?

As you continued inspecting your area, hidden(or maybe you just sat on them) through the golden flowers were plenty of letters. They didn’t even look old and worn, they looked rather new. You needed a break from reality, your curious mind slowly returning and wanting to find out if this was a great discovery, so you pulled out one of the letters from its already opened envelope to skim through its contents:

“TO MY DEAREST FLOWER FRIEND,

THE FLOWEY FAN CLUB IS STILL RUNNING TO THIS DAY, I AM PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE! ALL THINGS CONSIDERED HOWEVER, IT IS ONLY ME, FRISK, AND MY BROTHER STILL. YOU REMEMBER SANS, RIGHT?

SANS IS NOT AS EXCITED ABOUT OUR MEETINGS, FOR HE DID NOT CONTRIBUTE TO THIS LETTER AS MUCH AS I. BUT FRISK WOULD ESPECIALLY LIKE TO LET YOU KNOW THAT THEY MISS YOU. I AM NOT SURE HOW THEY ARE ABLE TO SEE YOU ALL THE WAY DOWN THERE, BUT THEY SAY THAT YOU ARE NEVER AROUND WHEN THEY STOP BY. IT WOULD CHEER THEM UP IF THEY COULD SEE YOU, FLOWEY, EVEN IF I CAN’T. I HOPE YOU’RE DOING WELL THOUGH, MY FRIEND! IF YOU’RE SICK PLEASE LET US KNOW IF YOU CAN, THERE IS PLENTY OF MEDICINE FOR PLANTS AND MONSTERS ALIKE UP HERE!

THE SURFACE IS AS GOOD AS IT HAS BEEN ALL THOSE YEARS AGO, NOTHING HAS CHANGED OTHER THAN THE SPICES I USE IN MY SPAGHETTI, WHICH I HAVE DROPPED A FEW BOTTLES FOR YOU. KEEP COOKING AND DON’T LOSE HOPE!

FLOWER FRIEND, PLEASE STAY SAFE.

LOVE,

PAPYRUS.”

“Papyrus.” You breathed out in somewhat shock. There was someone down here opening these letters and reading them! Frisk knew, Papyrus knew, Sans knew, who the hell else knew that someone was locked away underground still? Did they seriously think it was okay to abandon one of their own? Let alone some-- from what you could read it was some Flower Plant Monster thing?

Why weren’t they letting them out?

“What a snoop~”

The sudden voice rang around the cavern and you let go of the letter. It fluttered down, but only to rest in your lap. You held your breath as if it would help, considering you were literally in the only spotlight of the room. Stiffening your body to be as still as you can be, your eyes lowered downward as you watched sudden green vines slowly grow around your waist. While one wrapped around you almost delicately, the other brushed over the letter, only to snatch it.

“Common sense is: If it’s not written for you, don’t read it. But humans don’t have any common sense.”

You just realized you’re sitting in something damp. You surely hoped you hadn’t pissed yourself.

“Wow, you look like complete shit! You must’ve taken such a fall~” The voice continued, its tone was somewhat mocking, very much on the passive-aggressive side of the spectrum. A tone soothing, soft, and yet cynical and uncaring. They sounded comforting and concerned, but the tone they used sounded disinterested and, surprisingly unsurprised.

You can't turn your head from how stiff it was, so you dared to pull your hips away from the vines, and they easily loosened their grip. Slowly you lifted on your knees, wincing from the pain in your shoulder and ankle as you turned yourself completely around, and yet there was no one to be found. You were hoping the voice wasn’t just in your head, but you then looked down to realize that the wetness you had sat in was the crushing of your backpack, which contained your flattened and now emptied water bottle.

You grunted in annoyance, using your good arm to reach your hand and grasp at the wet backpack, holding it up and watching the now dirty water drip from the end. Even bits of your dried out foods had been soaked into the earth. Everything was mixed into the flower bed and the mud, either completely inedible, or if you were desperate it’d be a rather dirty salad.

“No surprise that another human, after all these years, falls down and once again somehow survives.” The voice picked up again, this time it sounded far off, but it was definitely in the same room.

Your cellphone popped into your head, and you felt up your pockets.

When the rectangular shape was felt, you pulled out the device only to see a rather deep crack in the screen. Smartphones could be broken as easily as body parts apparently, and with a soft sigh, you tested to see if there was even any service where you were.

Of course not.

The vines appeared again, slowly wrapping themselves around you, and with a weak breath you were squeezed roughly and lifted up in the air. Your mind was having trouble even comprehending what was happening, you could only assume this was the work of a monster, considering they labelled you ‘human’ like some foreign species, and no humans from what you could tell had these sorts of abilities. You remained breathless all the while the vines seemed to work their way around your body, as if securing you to make sure you didn’t cause such a fuss. Even if you wanted to, you were too weak to defend yourself for the moment, and remained airborne while the tendrils seemed to begin grabbing for all the letters beneath you.

“Not only do you disorganize my pile but then you start reading it, why are humans assholes?”

After everything (that at least interested the monster) was grabbed, you were dropped with a hard thud, whimpering in your already injured state as you tried to get comfortable again on the bed of flowers. That’s when you finally got to see it, not too far from where you faced there was a golden flower, similar to the ones you sat on, using its vines and stacking the letters in the dark. It’s eyes were glowing, and the moment it noticed you staring, suddenly you turned your head away.

“You’re a little late, aren’t you?” Now you knew the voice was coming from the flower, it… he… whatever was smiling towards you, their eyes smiled with them. “It’s been a long time, monsters live above ground now so… there’s no game down here for you.”

Your head was rattled, you had no idea what… it was talking about.

“You look like you could use some help, buddy.” The flower suddenly sang with glee, though you still heard the cynical tone in the back of its throat as it slowly approached, almost surfing through the earth. Suddenly it sank down into the dirt, only to make you jump from surprise at its appearance right in front of you “Golly! Your arm’s dislocated!” It glanced down at your legs “And your ankle doesn’t look too good either.” The flower then lifted its gaze up to inspect your face, staring what you thought was like the type of stare someone gave another person of intimate interest.

“And your rope snapped too, what bad luck!”

Or at least you thought it was inspecting your face.

“Are you a monster?” You asked somewhat dumbly, and meekly. The beady eyes shifted to your face, causing you to lean away a bit.

“Me?” The flower gave you a confused look as it tilted its (cute) little head “Do I look like one? I get that you’re no botanist but, ya don’t need ta be one to know what I am.”

You swallowed “A... flower?”

The flower’s vines seemed to stretch out like arms “That’s right! I’m Flowey, Flowey the flower!”

Your stomach churned.

“And you look like you could use a, well…” Flowey snickered “A hand.”

You swallowed again, swallowing back the small hint of fear that tried to come out from your throat, and you nodded “Could you… grab my first aid kid? It’s kinda… scattered about over there.” For some reason you had a bad feeling in your stomach, so you did your best to direct the plant's attention towards the other items as a means of, well, either running for dear life or to actually retrieve them in an attempt to heal.

Flowey did turn its head towards the gestured materials, though it looked back towards you with its smile still stuck on its lips. “But if I fix you up, you’ll be able to do that yourself!” Flowey said rather cheerfully as a vine began to wrap around your injured shoulder. If it was preparing to do what you were thinking it was, you knew you would be screaming for a very long time. You shook your head quickly, trying to yank away and release your arm but the pain that shot through you caused you to cry out instead. You begged, pleaded, screamed for it to stop “Please-- no! I can’t!”

“Well, maybe you can’t…” Flowey’s face suddenly contorted into that of some horrifying beast, causing you to cringe as it continued “...But I C A N .” The vines only squeezed harder, and the tears kept falling as your own face contorted into, what you were imagining looked rather disgusting for an adult to be doing.

“Flowey!” You cried out just as you had done before, this time shaking your head so fast that the world was spinning. You had a horrible headache, and the physical refusal being shown through your head shaking was only making it worse. Your brain was practically rattling in your skull from how hard you tried to reject Flowey’s help.

Was this all a dream? Were you still in your apartment? Would you wake up soon?

“PLEASE!” You begged once more, though now you only heard the flower counting down from five. You threw your head back and cried out. Four...three. Your screams and sobs echoed off the walls so that only you and Flowey could hear them shouted right back. Your bravery gone, curiosity completely depleted, you wanted to go home. Two… and you kept wailing, your world completely distorted due to the tears you shed blurring your eyesight.

You were a sniffling mess, and the moment the plant had let go, you used your good arm to support your other in a comforting embrace. You hugged yourself like you were your own best friend.

Flowey breathed out, rather lazily “I didn’t realize that a dislocated shoulder meant so much to you.” The tendril slid up across your cheek rather gently, the end of the vine brushing under your eye as an attempt to wipe away your tears. You sniffed again, blinking a few away as the hot tears rolled down your face, and Flowey brought one of the tears on its vine closer as if it needed to be inspected. For a second, you were confused as to why Flowey really was looking at the tear like some royal artifact, before the flower flicked it off its tiny leaf.

“I’m just…” You weren’t sure if Flowey even had good intentions “I’m scared, okay? I said it.” You felt completely embarrassed, which was ridiculous considering the only other living thing in the room was a flower who, you suspected, was already insane and didn’t really care for how you felt. “It hurts, but I’m just… this all went wrong so fast.”

“Oh, it did?” Flowey blinked, peering over you in wonder “How so?”

“Look at all this!” You yelled out, using your good arm to gesture towards the scattered objects and items, the ruined food supplies “Half my shit is destroyed ‘cause I probably used some bad rope! No one even knows I’m down here because I told my colleague I was going on vacation! I messed up my ankle and my arm, and I’ve… I’ve....” You took in a few deep breaths after having said your story so fast. You didn’t even know how to end it, the flower arching a brow at your actions as you found a few words left “I’ve got no way out of here…”

Flowey’s expression seemed to change, rather drastically. Almost as if it were lost in thought, the flower murmured “Join the club.”

You blinked towards it, before its vines wrapped around your ankle. You weakly shook your head, though at this point you were so tired from so much crying that you really couldn’t fight anymore.

Flowey spoke up, suddenly they were so gentle with their words that you were almost shocked. The passive-aggressive tone, that 6th sense of yours that they were secretly a jerk in disguise, it all washed away. “I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there’s no way around this.” He sighed “Either fix it now, or deal with it later. I’m gonna help you but this is the only way, and you’re just gonna have to deal with it.”

You swallowed, Flowey’s eyes didn’t leave your own as they continued “Bite something if you can~”

And with a sudden disturbingly bright smile, they snapped your ankle in place.

Before you could even scream out from the pain, you hadn’t realized that Flowey re-wrapped their vines around your shoulder, also snapping it in place.

Your mind was fighting to stay conscious again, and all the while Flowey was silently holding your limbs in place like they would fall off if it let go. You felt their eyes fixated on you, judging your actions, trying to see how you would react to what had just happened. You did your best not to scream or cry anymore as the tendrils squeezed. You did your best to think of them as a strangely comforting hug. Oh boy, flowery hugs.

You had to have been going insane.

You fell back into the flowers, staring up at the red-orange hole in the ceiling of the dark. Your eyes were half lidded, your bottom lip quivered but you were officially all out of tears. It felt like you stared up at the light for hours, but it had only been minutes before Flowey’s innocent face poked its head in your line of sight, looking down at you almost in concern. Almost.

“How are ya feelin’?” Flowey asked as if it were truly concerned. You wondered whether they were or not, but you also didn’t want to ask. You looked away, testing your shoulder and finding out that you could move your arm again. There was a small bit of achiness to it, but not unbearable. Your ankle felt better too. “Good.” You admitted “I’m feeling, good.”

“Good.” Flowey smiled, pulling themselves away and releasing their vines from your body. You hadn’t realized that Flowey had been holding on all that time, but you also didn’t mind it. Suddenly the coldness of the cavern returned, as of Flowey stole the warmth away. They immediately changed the subject “I’m actually surprised you weren’t all too freaked out by me. I can assure you it’s not every day you find a talking flower. I’m pretty unique.”

“You are unique, but I’m not surprised by you.” You agreed with a nod, slowly sitting up. Your whole body aching, but you supposed that was normal. Better than having fractured and destroyed limbs. “When you live in a town of monsters, and study them every day, you get used to these sorts of things.”

Flowey’s cheery and intrigued mood seemed to drop. “I’m not a monster.”

You corrected yourself with a sigh “I didn’t mean that, I just meant that I’m used to… well… different. “ You gave a tiny smile, it was somewhat forced considering your whole face felt stiff. Not just from the injuries, but from all the crying you had done not too long ago “And I guess it’s mostly me studying their past and history, not just monsters themselves.”

Flowey didn’t seem to want to respond, and you weren’t sure what else to say in the silence as you slowly regained your composure and wiped your eyes. You decided to take a breather, simply sitting there and taking a few deep breaths for a moment before looking back to Flowey, who was now intently staring downward.

“Um…” You started, to signal Flowey that you were talking to them “Thank you… for helping me… I appreciate it, really.” Your smile was more genuine now. You felt like such a kid for the way you behaved, whether Flowey’s intentions at first had been ill or not. Disinfectant stung a wound but it always helped and was meant for the best, children would cry and scream their eyes out but they would feel better in the end; and this was no exception. If it were just a normal flower, you would have rewarded it (and yourself) by picking it out of the rest and taking it home with you, but instead you settled for leaning down and gently gracing your lips against one of Flowey’s flower petals, giving a small kiss to the assistance.

Flowey suddenly sank into the ground, re-appearing a few feet away. “WHAT!”

“What?” You blinked.

“What was THAT for?!” The golden flower’s head bobbed rather quickly, its vines had found their way around you in a tight squeeze, even with the flower being farther away than they really needed to be. As if restraining you from attacking it, when it was already obvious Flowey was the one to have ‘attacked’ you first. “D-Don’t go around smooching flowers!” Flowey stammered, trying to figure out what to say next. You couldn’t see that far off, but you thought the golden flower was turning pink. It was still rather cute to you, the flustered flower seemed to be trying to figure out what to even say. You could’ve sworn you were hearing it curse up a storm to itself.

Boy or girl flower?

Flowey finished with “YOU’RE A PERVERT!”

You paused. “The hell.” You muttered to yourself.

“Don’t touch my stuff! OR ME!” The flower added, vanishing once more only to appear by their stacks of letters. They were the letters that Flowey had organized earlier in the dark after having held you up in the air against your will. You figured a kiss wasn’t as bad as what they had done to you. His eyes were tightly shut as if refusing to look at you, finally releasing their vines from around you as the plants sank into the earth beneath you. “If it’s not yours it means it’s MINE. Have fun wandering around the ruins ‘til ya die! PERV!” And with that they sank just as quickly into the ground again. To your dismay, they didn’t pop up anywhere else in the room.

How the hell were you supposed to find your way out?

Standing up then, your mind returned to silence as the room had been before, the faint trickle of water in the distance, the rather cool yet humid air. What you had thought smelled fresh and rather soothing on your way down now smelled of mold, something abandoned and forgotten.

You carefully stepped out of the flower patch before gathering the few things you could. You rung out the dirty water from your backpack, flicking your wrist to let it crack in the air as an attempt to toss any loose droplets from the material, before you picked up the medical supplies and tools that survived your fall. Of course your weather resistant jacket managed to prove its true worth, not having much as a stain from the fall, however it had been a bit torn due to the rough impact, maybe even the rough handling Flowey did on you.

You needed to find water, it sounded not too far off, but you still had to figure out how you would eat and survive underground until you could return home.

“This was such a bad idea.” You were practically laughing at yourself, under your worn out breath as you shut your bag and slid your arms through each strap. Your hair was a mess, but the fall still didn’t change how little you cared for appearances. Trying to think positive, you figured that since you were down here anyway, you might as well get back to your original plan; which was to scavenge and study the underground. Here you were, after all, with no way back out other than busting through the exit or finding a way to climb up that entrance, so might as well attempt to enjoy yourself.

Flowey was an interesting flower, apparently Frisk, Sans, and Papyrus knew… it well. They wrote letters to the peculiar thing every day, though you suspected that if it wasn’t all three of them writing every day, it was definitely Papyrus… considering he sounded the most excitable and eager in what you read.

It was easy to connect the dots that all of Flowey’s letters were from Papyrus, or the ‘Flowey Fan Club’. The flower’s personality was still hard to read, considering they went from quick to tease to easily flustered just as fast as you had gone from brave adventurer to crying infant.

If they knew about Flowey being underground still, why would they seal off the exit?

The underground suddenly seemed inviting, as you made your way in the only direction available; which was forward.

Notes:

Chapter Text

Chapter Four: You Were Lead Astray

You expected to climb underground and explore an abandoned, mysterious world; left alone to your studies and research and to come back every day for the rest of the week.

However, you were greeted with a snapping rope that left you permanently stuck, broken limbs, a monster(actually a flower) and a well lit and slightly maintained location. Hopefully not actually permanent , but for now you were trapped underground with no way out.

Well, no time to panic.

You weren’t starving just yet, and the sound of water was quite promising. You had until the end of the week to find a way out before Frisk probably realized you went against what they told you. Frisk was never the type to say ‘i told you so.’ or rub it in whenever they were right on things, but they enjoyed giving you the implications through facial expression whenever they had informed you of something that you didn’t listen to or they were right and you were wrong. For someone who didn’t show much expression, they seemed to do it often during those situations.

The fact that, this time, you had gotten Frisk angry about exploring the underground before leaving made you figure that, well, if Frisk found you down below there wouldn’t exactly be any room for teasing and pretending it never happened.

The negative thoughts of being stripped from your title made you concerned, but you knew there was no use treading on such thoughts, all things considered. It was too late for that (that was probably something you should’ve done before going against Frisk’s wishes), it was time to survive and do what you came here to. Study.

Having a flower poking around wasn’t entirely too bad either. They did help with your arm and ankle, and even though it turned total tsundere... you were kind of happy that you weren’t completely alone. Not only that, but you had someone to interview now… if they would allow it, of course.

As you ventured forth, with the damp and somewhat heavy bag on your back and your steel-toed boots also heavy, you made your way through the dimly lit environment. You couldn’t find your flashlight, so you had to depend on the fact that Flowey resided underground still and lit up the place a bit. And you thanked them under your breath as you entered an entry hall lit with torches, finding two staircases that slowly conjoined into one that lead to another door. The stairs were completely covered in vines, as if the vines were the only thing holding everything in place from crumbling apart. It would have made sense that after all these years nothing was maintained and everything simply fell into pieces, though with Flowey being underground still you simply chose to believe they were now the caretaker of the ruins. You knew there had to have been more to this place considering the amount of monsters that reached the surface and spread, wondering this to yourself as you took the stairs carefully while scribbling notes in your still wet journal.

The ink bled all over the paper, some of your notes turning into blotches of black rather than actual letters or even words, but you told yourself you’d rewrite them when you returned home so that they were legible.

Stepping through the doorway to the next room, you noticed a few pressure plates to your right inside the smaller chamber. It was significantly smaller of a room than the entry way, but it also looked as if it could have been a room used incase of, perhaps, people like you entering uninvited and trying to storm your way through the underground. Even though Flowey had yelled a threat of wandering until you died , the puzzle, or trap, had already been activated, and the next doorway was open and waiting.

You jotted down the fact that the pressure plates had a thick layer of dust on them, and the entire room smelled rather musty. The walls, from what you could tell by the one torche in the room, were a deep shade of purple, and from the looks of the plush earth beneath your boot that was also purple, you assumed all of the ruins were a majestic purple theme. You thought of royal purple as you made your way through the open door that, to your delight, let the sounds of rushing water fill your ears.

You didn’t even think of exploring the room for the time being, you hurried forward and followed your senses. It was only a few short steps before you approached a small stream, the water rushing through rather quickly with a tiny vine bridge arching over for, perhaps people like you, to walk across without having to jump or swim. Kneeling down beside the stream, the water looked surprisingly fresh, an idea that perhaps there was fresh water not too far from the underground that ran deep into the mountain as a natural source. Cupping your hands, you scooped some of the crystal clear liquid into your palms and lifted it to your lips, gulping it down rapidly to quench your never-ending thirst.

At least your actual thirst was satisfied, and the concern of having to figure out where to get water could now be tossed to the back of your mind.

Once you had your fill you stood back to your feet, rubbing your knees with a content sigh as you carefully stepped on the bridge made completely out of vines and a mix of green, purple, and red leaves. Not too far off, you thought you hadn’t seen another bridge for the other stream ahead of you, but as you approached there it was, looking exactly like the other you had just crossed. You didn’t question it as you crossed and carried forward.

Once more, many of the puzzles had been completed or deactivated, and you were starting to wonder if it was just for convenient purposes. After all, from what you knew(or you guess from what you didn’t know) , there could have been a few other monsters underground still that wound up trapped like Flowey. Perhaps they figured deactivating them would be easier than having to go through them over and over. But as you ventured, so many of the rooms and walls were coated in a dust that made your theory faulty. Sure, if all the monsters that remained were lazy, it could still be true that people resided underground as of today… but the likelihood of someone at least attempting to clean up in occupied spaces seemed to have a higher chance than the likelihood of someone by themselves would clean locations they rarely stayed long in. They were simply passage corridors, maybe no one felt they needed to be cleaned?

You still wondered, and maybe hoped, that there were others down in the underground that you could talk to.

Stepping over old yellowing flyers for spider bake sale’s (Which you especially knew belonged to Ms. Muffet, the most popular baker of your hometown who often bragged about her ‘low income’ beginnings underground selling donuts and ciders for a fundraiser), you eventually found your way onto, what appeared to be, a balcony that overlooked a crumbling and forgotten city. The underground city of the monsters… at least, the ruins of such. While some of the places far off in the distance were lit with lamps and torches, others were left in complete darkness, blocking out your sight from seeing all of the section from where you stood. You would have to get down there somehow to walk through and find new discoveries, and you made sure to note this in your journal how beautiful the architecture was. Very classical, so retro.

You were admiring how sturdy the balcony was, considering it had probably been years since it was used, when coincidence decided to make it break.

Reaching the edge of the balcony to grab hold of the railing, the flooring near the doorway you had entered suddenly began to give way, a long crack forming all along the wall behind you as a signal of the entire balcony preparing to fall.

With swift movements and rather clumsy reflexes, you ran back to the doorframe, grunting as you gripped the sides in time for the old flooring to crack, crumble, and collapse. Even as it fell, the balcony was breaking apart into pieces of debris and rock, and it was a long way down before you heard it exactly hit the city below.

With a small huff, you used your arm strength to pull yourself up and back through where you had came. Sitting there for a moment, you were starting to notice a pattern of unlucky events, but you tried your best not to think too negatively. After all, you had your tantrum earlier on in front of Flowey, that was enough.

Backtracking to the room you had passed up earlier on, re-stepping over the old flyers, you entered a wide and open space. The walls were covered in vines, with each vine bloomed tiny flowers and flower buds, and there was a large dead tree sitting at the center of the room surrounded by even more dead(deader?) leaves. Though the tree looked like the corpse of its former glory, it looked as if it were still growing, considering the vinery that laced over the base of the blackened bark. Either the vines were trying their best to keep the tree together, or they were making sure that the tree kept at least growing straight and upward. Inspecting the dead leaves implied that it was an oak tree.

The leaves looked close to the few piles you had found while making your way to this location, so you wondered if they had either been spread out, or if there were more holes in the ceiling that revealed the surface-world, causing plant life to gently flutter into the underground. On the ceiling of the cavern was no exception to the idea, you could see small specks of light that sprayed along the ground, scattering warm-spots of what little sunshine was left of the day. Wherever the tiny spots of sun rested on the damp and cool earth, you saw bushes of grass, though it still wasn’t as much as where you had fallen down into the flowerbed.

This place, while it definitely had the feel of having been abandoned completely, also had the feel of being more taken cared of than the rest of the ruins you had explored. The plant life in the room was breathtaking, and you truly wished that your phone was still working.

If only the people of today didn’t depend on their smartphones so much for everything, you could’ve gotten your own professional camera for photographic purposes instead of hoping your smartphone had good memory and a strong phone case.

As you followed the barely visible path on the ground, it lead you to a home. You were expecting it, and yet you also...weren’t? There was a house simply sitting there, a garden outside of it that still grew plants and other vegetation, and as you hurried up to peek through the windows, there was even light inside, hinting that it was occupied. More monsters? Perhaps it wasn’t just Flowey after all! You could interview all of the new underground dwellers, perhaps even see to it that they get to the surface with their friends and family!

You were all too excited to try the door, though even after realizing it was locked it didn’t stop you from trying another two or three times.

After the fourth try your enthusiasm faltered.

“Crap.” You huffed, it wasn’t until then that you felt very tired. Whether you were completely worn out from your exploration and getting all the way there(which was indeed a long walk but that was all it was, just a walk) or still recovering from all that had happened in your arrival, you found yourself yawning and your head rather heavy. You forced yourself to stay alert as you tried the door once more, but it was still locked.

“Wow, isn’t there some sorta law against breaking and entering?”

You quickly turned your head towards the familiar voice, only for them to have vanished. You could’ve sworn it was behind you, but you simply turn your attention back towards the door--

only for Flowey’s face to have been an inch from yours. You were too surprised to move.

“You enter the underground and break your arm, now you’re trying to get into my house~? ” Flowey snickered, their beady eyes had suddenly hollowed out as if their eyeballs had melted into the back of their skull, leaving tiny glowing white pupils in their place. Flowey’s teeth... jagged and rough... as they gave a, what you would call, signature creepy grin. “So if I let you come in, what can I break of yours?”

“H-Hey, Flowey.” You simply greeted them, lifting a hand to give a gentle wave. However as soon as your arm was up a vine had wrapped around your wrist. It gave a pull causing you to stumble forward and practically butt heads with the flower.

“Don’t hey Flowey me, human.” Flowey hissed, their eyes squinting into yours “Playthings should ask permission before wandering into places they don’t belong!” They finally let go, shoving you away and causing you to stumble backward. Unlike before, this time you didn’t catch yourself; you fell on your ass with a hard thud, though thankfully the ground was soft.

Flowey had stretched themselves up to get to your eye level, but now that you had fallen back, they slowly shrank to their normal tiny height. “You look even shittier than before, must’ve been so hard just to make it here alive~” They grinned wider, cackling.

“The only fall I took was at the balcony.” You said with a huff, blowing some hair out of your face as you carefully stood back to your feet. There were many aspects of Flowey that frightened you, and yet the memory of their comforting lecture before helping you out (and snapping your body parts back into place) kept you DETERMINED to believe they were good, not evil. “It was unstable, I was only there for about a few minutes before it almost fell underneath me!”

“Well,” Flowey started, suddenly their expression shifted back to normal, with their dull and unamused/disappointed look as their small eyes wandered over your figure “I went on there all the time and it didn’t fucking break , maybe if you didn’t have so much weight on you--”

You stomped your foot “How about shut up!” There wasn’t much of a comeback to give, you were already red in the face. For someone who didn’t care about their appearance, the thought of being judged by a total stranger, let alone a flower, made you defensive. You felt horribly embarrassed and now you knew you were exposed and showing it.

Having interrupted Flowey, it caused their eyes to narrow, as his main stem slowly grew back to reach your eye level. “Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot that this was your world and you made the rules.” They paused, before vines burst from the earth and immediately wrapped around your legs. The sound was like a crashing wave, only instead of water splashing over your body it was dirt from the ground. In the mess that covered your eyes and flew at you, the tight grip on your body made you part your lips, only for a bit of mud to touch your tongue. The vines crawled up to your hips, giving everything a firm and uncomfortable squeeze as you gasped for air. Almost instantly your legs had gone numb, and you couldn’t feel anything from the waist down as he wrapped you up. You almost looked like a mermaid, of course you were a mud coated and vine wrapped one.

“What the hell is your problem!?” You demanded, squirming and struggling for freedom as you were lifted to hover above the ground. It wasn’t that far of a drop, however it wasn’t a drop at all for as long as Flowey squeezed and held you. The tendrils continued crawling, now having wrapped around your belly and you grunted “You act like I’m afraid of you and I should have a reason to be, but you’re the guy-- thing… whatever that helped my arm and leg! YOU’RE A NICE PERSON!”

You let out a heavy breath, the vines had grown more and were now crushing your chest.

“I’m not afraid of you! In- In fact I wanna get to know you--” Your mouth had been silenced, the sensation of your jaw practically stretching to dislocate for the sake of being gagged by a thick vine shoved into your mouth felt overwhelming. It was so sudden, and a rather shocking and lewd moment that had never occurred to you in your entire life. Deepthroated by a fucking plant?!

Your eyes immediately filled with tears, and the swelling of the plant forcing your entire mouth to widen and loosen, but to also make you drink your words.

The only awkward thing about all this was that your mind flashed back to a time when you ran into a monster on the surface, Undyne, and her girlfriend a couple weeks back. You were meant to interview them, but they were watching something strangely similar to this situation. As soon as you entered the house, they turned it off fairly quickly. Fucking hentai.

This didn’t feel as good as it looked in the shows.

“I don’t need someone to be afraid of me…” Flowey suddenly breathed out, their breath heavy and voice low. You could feel yourself gagging and retching against the plant matter that was starting to tickle its way down the back of your throat, being forced to swallow anything your body attempted to throw up due to how large it had gotten. There was no way you could plead for freedom with your mouth occupied, let alone your whole body wrapped tight enough to crush. But suddenly, after what felt like an eternity of torture, the vine retracted from your mouth, causing you to cough and hack as everything else loosened around you and you were dropped back to the ground. Fallen on your hands and knees, you simply sputtered and threw up, the taste of dirt and grass covering your mouth.

“I have no problems with you, friend … none whatsoever~” Flowey suddenly finished, their menacing face, the vines that surrounded them, suddenly all vanished as they had done before, returning Flowey to an ‘innocent’ state of appearance. “I only helped you back there because you were crying like a fucking baby. The underground is quite empty, sounds tend to carry.”

“ You… ” You coughed, on your hands and knees trying to return air to your lungs. From Flowey slowly looming over you, the feeling of eyes on your back, you felt ashamed and embarrassed. The position you were in made you look like bowing before some sort of king “You still didn’t have to… no one made you help me… I… I could’ve cried myself to death and you still didn’t have to help me…”

Flowey simply remained silent, watching you with dark intent apparent in their eyes, but they didn’t respond as they let you cough and gasp more, spitting whatever tiny leaves remained in your mouth. All the water you had drank earlier felt gone, your mouth dried up, like the plant drank and drained everything from your body as it had forced you to deepthroat its vine.

You were feeling rather disgusting.

“But you did …” You finished, finally lifting your head up to see just how close Flowey was to you. Their face right in front of yours, but all you did was furrow your brows, DETERMINED to shut the flower down.

“You helped me anyway… whether you want to believe it or not, you’re a good person.”

“I’m not a person ,” Flowey rolled their eyes “You moron. How many times do I have to repeat myself before you actually open your ears and shut your mouth?!”

“Either way you’re good, and deal with it.” You blurted with a huff.

Flowey glared, only meeting your glare in response.

Finally they mumbled “Him. By the way.”

You breathed out, slowly trying to stand back to your feet. Your body was recovering from being numb, so now everything felt like tiny needles and pins poking all over your body. “ Him who?”

“Me.” Flowey added almost too simply “I’m male, the correct pronoun is he and him. ”

You dared to question aloud “How do you know you’re a guy?”

Like before, you met his tsundere side “I-I just know! God-- you really are an idiot! ” Turning his head away so fast that the petals that haloed his head waved with his motions, to you it looked like he was just dramatically flipping his hair “I’m getting sick of you already. Fuck face.”

With those last words, he sank into the earth, vanishing as he had done earlier on.

Even though you were more angered at that moment than anything, you took a heavy breath as if you had been holding it in for so long. Three times so far you were close to death, the fall, the balcony, and now Flowey was threatening to crush you and-- well, gag you to death? Your headache was back, once again your mouth was completely dry and in need of watering, and now your body felt so weak that you could barely hold your own weight. Fear and anger were fusing into one.

“Is this gonna be your signature act?!” You called out, your voice cracked and was rather hoarse due to the itchiness that now sat at the back of your throat. Your yell echoing off the walls and now circulating the empty cavern to only yell back at you as you continued “While I’m down here just-- trying to crush me and… and what mouth fuck me before running away?! Every time?!”

You took a moment to wait for your own voice to vanish and fade away before adding “Do I look like some hentai character to you?! You pervert!!”

You then stood there in silence, waiting even longer for a response.

But nobody answered.

“God, what a creep!” You licked your dry bottom lip, feeling a long cut where the tip of your tongue poked and prodded out of curiosity. Even more injuries , you weren’t surprised, but you were getting more and more disappointed. The more you tried to befriend and talk with the flower, the more he fought back and ran off.

Slowly dragging yourself to the door again, you decided against your better judgement to give it a firm knock.

1, 2, 3. Three knocks, and a waiting period of over a minute before realizing Flowey either didn’t run off inside to hide away, or he was completely ignoring your existence.

“Flowey?” You called, trying the handle again. Surprisingly, it was suddenly unlocked and you were far too eager to open the door fully.

Taking a step inside, the warmth was inviting, comforting, and there was a very enjoyable smell of honey and sweetness that floated about the home. You fully stepped inside to give the main entryway a good look around. There were, like the rest of the ruins you explored, vines stretching out along the walls and floors, including the ceiling, but it was all meant as an attempt to keep the place together. You noted that the vines were only stretching over the areas with cracks, or replacing missing floorboards.

Right as you had entered there was a set of stairs that lead downwards to, what you assumed was, the basement level of the household. This was Flowey’s home?

The moment you removed your backpack and set it on the floor, the door behind you slammed shut.

The slam made your body jump from surprise, spinning on your heel to look at what had caused it. You didn’t even get a chance to try the handle before green vines and leaves grew and spread over the entire door, like an infection that you were worried was contagious. You didn’t dare try and see if you could still open it, you instead yanked your bag from the floor and hugged it close while backing away. If you had been too close to the door, it would’ve probably caused another grab and squeeze event to occur, and this time (from the notice of thorns on the little tendrils along the door) it would have actually killed you.

With a sigh, you held your backpack as if it were a stuffed animal, looking around the silent home…

Summary:

You’ll never come back.

“You idiot.”

Notes:

>EDIT:: A Great friend of mine, Pharaoh-Ink, was awesome enough to make fanart from this chapter!>We had just met actually cuz they are also a huge fan and I'm super duper honored when amazing people find me and wanna talk ;w;> Thank you so much for sharing your talents with me!

Chapter Text

Chapter Five: Invited To Play

The voice was coming from the room to your right, since you were facing the door. And you sure as hell knew who it was.

You had convinced yourself, and maybe him, that you weren’t afraid of him and yet here you were… pondering whether to yank at the thorny vines and run off to freedom or to stay put inside of Flowey’s house to talk.

You got what you wanted…

Now you lose what you had.

You tried to hum a melody in your head as you slowly turned to face the doorway to the other room. You took your time to enter, even taking off your jacket to hang on the small coat rack, however you weren’t bothering to remove your heavy boots. Who knew what could happen in there, after all. Flowey was completely random, and it’d do him some good to try and attack your shoes only for his vines to break from their reinforced steel-toed accessories (you were smiling too proudly at the thought of it).

Finally you entered the room, and it looked like a pretty comfortable family room of sorts. There was a large dining table to the left of the room near the wall, three chairs around it and a vase full of freshly picked golden flowers. There was one large chair right by the fireplace, that you were surprised had fire roaring within it all things considered... and beside the fireplace was a bookshelf, though there weren’t many books--it was mostly letters similar to the ones you had landed on before, and the ones Flowey had to reorganize due to your invasion of his privacy. The floorboards were cracked, like the other room a few were covered in plant matter as an attempt to fix it, but right at the flooring where the bookshelf and chair met was a large gaping hole that flowey had managed to poke his head out of. He had one vine stretching out to place envelopes onto the bookshelf, back and forth, with a small pile in front of him. He looked rather calm for someone who had almost killed you and then ran away.

You swallowed back your pride “Hi.”

Flowey slowed his movements for just a moment, but then continued to organize his letters while muttering “Hello, friend. ”

You couldn’t help but scoff a bit at his words. Maybe he didin’t exactly understand the term ‘friend’. “Oh,” You retorted, rather gently even though you were starting to get angry again “I didn’t realize that we were friends, considering you don’t really act like one.” When Flowey simply continued to put away all of his letters, you wondered what else to say to him. There wasn’t much you were in the mood to talk about, to be honest you were ready to force yourself into a bedroom and crash-- hoping that Flowey did have a bedroom, and that was just assuming that Flowey actually slept. Why the hell you were thinking about sleeping in the home of a crazy flower monster was beyond you, however your tired brain and sore body were simply alerting you to find a place to rest… apparently they didn’t care about your safety.

“It all makes sense now.” You finally added “Why Frisk didn’t want to talk about what was down here and why the underground was sealed off. Because you’re here, and you’re always easily set off and just ready to… well… attack anyone on sight. Isn’t that right?”

Flowey kept putting away the letters, completely unphased by your words. You even felt a sting of regret from saying such things, but your mouth made you persistent “Flowey, why are you really down here? Why didn’t you come to the surface forever and a half ago like everyone else?”

“It was the right thing to do.” He said simply, finally having finished putting the letters away and he turned his head to look into the fire. You hoped he wasn’t suicidal.

“Do you really think you’re dangerous enough to keep yourself down here like this?” You asked, and Flowey gave a little snort at the question “You said it yourself, dumbass . You’re a witness to what I can do.” He kept himself facing the fire, as if not caring what you did at this point. Which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, considering you really thought that recliner seat looked comfortable. As if on cue though he looked to you rather quickly, forcing you to not take the seat close to him... but to take the seat at the dining table. Okay, not actually forcing you, you just got scared from the sudden attention and figured it would be best to keep a safe distance.

“You’re not getting out of here anytime soon…” Flowey added, looking away again and returning to staring at the fire “So I guess if you wanted some history, I wouldn’t mind.”

Some history? You wondered curiously to yourself at what he meant by that, though suddenly you found yourself itching to write something down. While the mood was mellow and calm, maybe you could take advantage of this. “You’re saying… you wouldn’t mind an interview?” You asked, almost too excited as you set your bag down beside your leg and pulled out your notebook. Flowey gave a little shrug of the leaves that sat on either side of their main stem, the vine that were putting away letters slowly retracted into the earth where he remained. You clicked your pen, and then paused.

Time for the important question.

“Um… actually…” You cleared your throat, and Flowey’s gaze shifted. Not enough to look at you again, but enough to tilt his head as you continued “Could I sit near the fire? I kind of want to be face to face with you… if that’s alright?”

“What’s stopping you?” Flowey’s tone sounded somewhat more cheery then, and as you carried your things and sat in the large recliner, you practically melted into the chair from how comfortable it was. You let out a sigh of content, Flowey noted this and asked almost in a teasing manner “Comfy~?”

“Very, thanks.” You replied with a rather quick nod of your head. You adjusted the notebook onto your lap and clicked your pen again. It wasn’t until you were relaxed that you realized how worn out your body was. And it wasn’t until you were focusing on yourself that you realized you had to pay attention to Flowey, lest he decide to spontaneously attack you for no reason again. Being this close to him made you uncomfortable, but the comfy seat counteracted the feeling, leaving you somewhat confused. Flowey was simply staring at you, expectantly and waiting. “Ready? I don’t like repeating myself so I hope you’re a fast writer.”

“My job is to research, write, interview…” You describing yourself sounded so boring, it wasn’t even a proper description for an archaeologist… it was like you were describing a typical desk job reporter...or Frisk. You cleared your throat and finished “And explore. So I think I can handle a fast talker.” Flowey smirked at the response, nodding your way with sudden interest “Right. Well… let’s begin.” His smile never broke as he started off with “I’ll have you know I should be dead.”

Good thing you weren’t drinking coffee, or you would’ve spat it out all over the flower. “What?”

“I shouldn’t be alive.” Flowey said, still staring at you with his beady black eyes, that tiny smile of his, as if he didn’t understand why you looked completely dumbfounded. You were certain that your emotion and feelings were planted on your face from how negative he had sounded, but Flowey didn’t seem to care at all as he proceeded “Back then, back when Frisk was wandering down here… I was someone else. I was someone who, well, was quite hungry . Which is the simplest way to put it considering your tiny, tiny brain.”

“I’ll keep that off the record.” You decided to sassily reply as you wrote down all he had to say, excluding the insult. Flowey carried on, his words almost slurred as if he were bored already, as if he had told his story too many times to count. “I remember who I was even before that… because Frisk showed me who I was. I used to be a monster, just like everyone else who was down here… but then I was, well, this. ” He gestured to himself with a small vine that came from the dirt, and then it slowly laid itself down on the floorboard, the tip resting at your boot. You eyed it for a second as if mentally daring the vine to attack your steel-toed shoes, but then you continued writing as he continued talking. “I don’t have a soul, I have... trouble feeling things, feeling anything…Or I suppose it wouldn’t necessarily be considered lacking of feelings, moreso failing to understand what certain feelings are.”

“With no soul, you become selfish… but with a soul you become selfless...I might’ve sacrificed a lot for everyone to get out, but because I sacrificed so much… it was safer for me to stay down here. Me and Frisk agreed…”

He sighed then, and for a moment you saw a tinge of sadness over his face. “And I guess they had to eventually tell Papyrus one way or the other. And that lead to the letters.” Flowey looked over to them, though you figured he was trying to hide it, there was a comforting smile on his lips as he mentioned “Papyrus is the head of this Flowey Fan Club , it’s totally dumb… but he insists on sending me one letter every day, usually every morning.” He looked back to you, his smile faded “That’s when I found you, reading one of my letters. You were a few hours late but, if you had been awake you would’ve probably saw the letter drop. I try not to be around during those times, meeting old friends is kinda… well…” He gave a weak grin “Lame.”

“What do you mean by sacrifice?” You tried to change the subject back to Flowey, not caring all too much about who sent the letters and why. “Are you saying that you’re the one who broke the barrier? Not Frisk?”

“Well, yeah.” Flowey shrugged again “But it was with Frisk’s help… if it wasn’t for them, I probably would have killed everyone instead.”

You swallowed, but also tried to ignore that, even though you wrote it down “How’d you do it?”

“It was said that to get through the barrier, a monster and human soul had to fuse and become one.” Flowey let his leaves slowly hold hands as if to use it as an example “The last time I… well, the old me... he got out the underground, he fused his soul with a humans, only to be a dumbass and come back to die. He could’ve saved them then but, he didn’t… he was a coward.” His words started to grow cold, but you kept writing. “I could have done the same, but… well, it’s much more fun getting rid of everyone, monsters and humans alike. That and, another timeline I had already failed just using 6 stored human souls… I knew I needed more, the moment Frisk spared me and reset, I knew I needed more power.” You could feel Flowey’s gritty smile aimed at you, and you half assumed that he didn’t necessarily mean this. Flowey, deep down, probably wanted to save everyone as much as Frisk did...but you refused to look up as he went on. “The world is cold and cruel, my only goal was to leave it empty. In order to turn into... him... I had to absorb not just every monster soul in the underground, but every human soul-- well, except Frisk’s… it was still in use.”

You finally looked up, and Flowey was simply weaving and bobbing their head around like some cheerful gumdrop cutie, though behind that face you knew there was a controlled chaos waiting to snap. He snickered “Frisk… saved me… so in order to save them, I broke the barrier with the power I had left. I knew I’d turn back into this soulless plant once I gave everyone’s soul back… Frisk knew too… we both agreed that, for the safety of everyone, I’d have to stay. I guess that’s why I know what feelings are, I can tell when I’m feeling something, why I’m feeling it, but it’s difficult to understand or connect to such feelings, get my drift? Textbook sociopath.”

A part of you didn’t even know if he was telling the truth, but you had to believe him. He then asked “But what’s your story for being here, friend? Mine’s so old and worn out, it’s so boring.”

“Mine is too.” You said with a soft sigh, not sure why you were bothering to tell a flower how you wound up underground “Frisk didn’t want me coming down here for… well the reason’s obvious now, for you.” You looked at him, and he simply remained curious as you continued “They said it was dangerous but I didn’t listen, and so my rope snapped on the way down, I broke my arm and ankle which still hurts, and was almost killed twice by a balcony and a plant.”

“Wow, tough luck, kid.” Flowey muttered bluntly.

“Shitty luck is more like it.” You snorted, rolling your eyes at him. He then tilted his head and smiled, though his words weren’t as concerned as his features “I may not be able to reset or load save files anymore, but I sure as hell can still cut up wandering dumbasses like you~” Suddenly his words were as cold as his eyes “Tell me the real reason you’re down here.”

“That’s really it.” You said in your defense, showing how unphased you were by his sudden change in character. His ‘signature’ creepy face had appeared as quick as his attitude adjusted. “I’m here for research, and until I can get back home that’s what I’m going to be doing; researching.”

“You’ll probably find a lot more in Doctor Alphys’ lab than wandering around the ruins, then.” Flowey said, his face returning to normal as he snickered “Not sure if you’ve heard of her--”

Oh god, the hentai.

“--but she was the royal scientist while down here. She did all the experiments and, well, even made me.” Flowey wiggled his nonexistent hips.

“How’d she make you?” You dared to ask, and he stopped wiggling to reply quickly “Injected DETERMINATION into a soulless plant. I’m the perfect answer to “what if you have no soul and give no fucks but you still don’t wanna die?”

“Oh.” You answer. “So like… what if you didn’t care but... still did.”

What separated sociopaths from psychopaths were how sociopaths were quick to snap and not hold remorse for their actions, always blaming someone else for their own problems. They were actually full of emotions, and it was mostly difficult for them to hold their feelings back like most humans could. Bipolarism was almost a similar case, at the bring of sociopathy with all things considered. The drastic mood swings, manic modes, the only difference between those two mental disorders was the fact that while those with bipolarism had few manic moments, sociopaths tended to have them more. If Flowey was truly claiming to be sociopathic, this would make the underground all the more dangerous. What if he was simply bipolar? That may be easier to handle.

“Why ignore your friends words though?” Flowey then added calmly, distracting you from your psychological thought process and practically wiping it clean as he looked you over “Frisk warned you, and yet you came down here anyway… they probably want to pretend that I never existed.”

You stammer “That’s not true, Frisk hasn’t forgotten about you… they probably didn’t want to mention you for the sake of keeping me safe, maybe even for the sake of keeping you safe too. They were just worried you would be like this so they warned me not to go underground, and yet here I am because I thought they were just being overbearing…”

Thinking back to the sociopathic idea, and the wonderment of Flowey perhaps not enjoying company after being alone for so long… a realization occurred in that moment, and you decided to just let it out with a faint sigh “Now I’m wondering, Flowey… did you break the rope so I couldn’t leave? Or so you could kill me?”

You look to Flowey as he stared right at you, a smile stuck on his face almost uncomfortably. Like a creepy broken toy that didn’t know how to respond. He looked like he was simply trying to figure out a way to fight back, trying to defend himself, and you knew that now was probably the perfect time for him to crack open his inner demon once again. Well, good thing your seat was comfortable.

“Well, whenever you go back to where you came from just let Frisk know I’m doing a whole lot better now than I was when people were around.” He suddenly hissed, his teeth showing, and his face turning almost animalistic as he snarled “ I’ll never be him! I don’t need anyone and I... I’m better off alone! You shouldn’t have even tried to come down here, idiot!” He growled, his vines seemed to wriggle and smack around the hole he had created in the flooring for himself, and you were pulling a bit back into your comfy seat to try and not get whipped in the legs. The golden flower was breathing heavily as he continued to yell “I hate them…! I hate everyone! I hate YOU! Why can’t everyone just die!”

You knew this tactics all too well in the short amount of time you’ve gotten to know him, he was getting defensive, changing the subject, trying to not admit to his wrong doings-- trying to blame someone else for his own actions. He was a hero who lived with regret because instead of being rewarded for his good deeds he was banished to live alone underground.

The difference between you and Frisk, who probably could have handled being yelled at better than anyone you knew, was that they would fight without using anger and fists. They were, after all, the ambassador, the peacekeeper, you of course had too many emotions to deal with people, let alone flowers, yelling and screaming at you. You fought back with a snap. “Then why didn’t you kill me?!” You blurted out, slamming your notebook shut with one hand and clicking your pen closed as if you were preparing to stab him, but you simply shoved it onto your notebook in your lap. “If you want me dead so bad you sure as fuck keep missing out on good opportunities!”

Maybe that wasn’t the best idea, considering it only made things worse. You didn’t get another word in before the tantrum appeared.

Flowey screamed out suddenly, a loud and terrifying scream that almost sounded like a siren blaring. You braced your chair as if you would fly out from how loud he shrieked, but even as he wailed and threw his tantrum, you noted the tears that welled up in his red eyes.

Flowey was crying.

“Fuck. YOU!” He added, sinking into the earth and disappearing.

“Dammit, Flowey! You can’t keep running like this!” You called after him, even pushing out of the chair to get on your knees and peek into the hole in the floor. There was dirt there, but that was it, nothing but the absence of him.

As per usual, you were left alone to your own thoughts.

You lifted back up and simply rested on your knees for a moment, trying to let your mind wrap around all that had happened. It only took you a couple or five minutes to recover, returning to sitting in the recliner to fix up your notes with the click of your pen. Adding reactions, adding little things about Flowey, before you were officially worn out as you stood up.

Hell, it was his fault you were stuck underground, he didn’t deny (nor did he confirm but hello guilty until proven innocent) that he tried to kill you with the rope. It only made sense… last thing you remember is it giving way, and it definitely didn’t snap.

Carrying your belongings back to the front door, you noticed that it was still covered in thorny vines, disallowing you to leave even though Flowey had ran off again. Was he forcing you to stay? “ God, Flowey… ” You breathe out tiredly, looking down the hall to see that there were actual bedroom doors within your line of sight. Your heart skipped a few beats as you wandered down, careful to step over the loose floorboards and to walk over the vines that you were certain would drag you under at this point. One of the bedroom doors was obviously locked, considering a vine had wrapped itself around the doorknob to keep you from opening it. You wandered further down to find another bedroom, as soon as you tested the door to unlock it, you quickly stepped inside and shut it behind you.

The bedroom was empty, however cleaned up and dusted like the rest of the home. Vines reached through nooks and crannies just to hold the ceiling and the floors together. All that remained in the depressing room was a desk and chair, a huge bed that looked queen sized, and an empty bookshelf and dresser. Setting your backpack near the bed, you dragged your heavy feet to the dresser to look through it. Unsurprisingly, you found nothing. The room was a sad shade of blue, a hue that fit the tone of your aftermath with the flower. The room probably belonged to someone before Flowey decided to make the house his own. At least you figured such, the thought of Flowey building his own house made you force down a cold laugh.

“If you keep me here, I expect to be treated as a guest.” You raised your voice and spoke rather sternly, though you were the only one to hear yourself as you made yourself comfortable at the edge of the bed. You bounced on it a bit, before bending down to unlace your shoes and release your feet. Your everything was aching, you really wanted to lie down. Was it safe to fall asleep at a place like this, though?

Well, looking about, you didn’t see a big hole where Flowey could fully pop in at, so you did your best to push the negative thoughts aside. This was all a dumb idea, but you insisted that you needed to rest somewhere, and while Flowey was gone it might as well be at his place. You fully slid onto the bed, on top of the sheets for the sake of not wanting to know what was under them, if there were anything. With an arm over your eyes, you sighed out softly, closing your lids and letting yourself at least lay awake with your eyes shut for awhile. You were nervous, your body was sore and worn out but your mind was racing. Would you ever get home? What will Frisk think when they find out?

Why is Flowey being such a--

You opened your eyes.

The underground was cold, wet, and you felt so small compared to it all. As excited as you imagined you would have been before, suddenly everything was overwhelming. The darkness of the underground entrance made you too afraid to keep going-- you had to run back! With a turn of your shoes you stumbled back, trampling the small circle of golden flowers, following the light at the end of the tunnel. You hadn’t realized how easy it was to just leave everything behind. To simply escape and get out, and you managed to make it outside into the warm light, sighing in content at the sight of the bright blue sky over your head.

The birds sang, the flowers and grass swayed with the gentle breeze, its whistling past your ear tickling your senses as you gave a little twirl in the light. It was so easy to just leave things behind when they were so hard to deal with. Right mom?

Right dad?

Your friend was a child, just like you, and they hurried close to you when they caught sight of you. They practically bounced excitedly your way in their blue blouse. Their face static like a television, though suddenly she smiled at you , the shiny red ball in her hands, and was presenting you the toy.

“Thanks!” You said, your voice squeakier than you expected it to be. How old were you? How old are you? What is your name?

“Let kids be kids. Better than them staying inside the house all day.”

“Well yes but I don’t want them to think THEY exist--”

“I’m gonna go on a hike.” She added, suddenly pointing to the mountain while balancing on her toes. You didn’t recall it being so close to where you two played, but suddenly it was right there, a hop- skip- jump away just to reach the florally decorated path. “It builds leg strength, my ballet instructors said I should build up leg muscle.”

“But hikes are boring.” You whined.

Please don’t go.

She continued anyway “Wanna come?”

You’ll never come back.

“You idiot.”

“...but hikes are boring.” You whined again, for some reason you were smiling so happily. Your pearly whites revealed, grinning from ear to ear. Finally taking the ball from her hands, you squeezed onto it so tightly that the rubber skid over your fingertips, making the same noise as a balloon being rubbed. Your smile was stuck, you couldn’t express how you truly felt… but your eyes welled up with tears. Your smile was stuck, but you cried.

Suddenly she slid her tutu up to her hips, humming happily as she frolicked away.

You didn’t see her again. She never came back.

Oh god… you…

It was your fault… you let her go, you let her fall alone…

“I-I killed her.” You murmured to yourself.

Murderer.

“Now they’ll surely think that--”

“No, their friend went on vacation, that is what we will tell them.”

“I’m not dumb!”

Suddenly a comforting hold wrapped around you as your tears continued to fall. You choked down your sobs, trying to contain yourself as you admitted too loudly “I barely remember her face but… she was one of the kids that never came back. She was my friend and I just… I let it all happen to her alone.”

“Children are all weak in the beginning…” A voice said, the voice that embraced you in a small but gentle hug. You saw no physical form holding you, so you safely assumed that it held you with their words “You didn’t know any better. You didn’t think she would die.”

“But she still did.” You breathed out, gasping as the squeeze tightened. But you didn’t mind it, you just wanted to be held. The voice agreed “She still did, yes… but it wasn’t your fault…”

“You were a pawn… you were played…”

“We are all played by something, or by someone…”

“You were naive… it’s okay…”

“You know better now…”

Your mind faded, you felt like something was tugging at your chest. In a soft breath you saw a heart, the colors changed-- from red to green and all the shades in between-- the heart was a rainbow spectrum as it glimmered before you. Your SOUL ... It was being pulled, and you didn’t know why. It felt like your soul was being yanked out of your chest. “You’re so determined to explore… in a world that’s taken so much…” The voice seemed so true… so certain that they knew who you were. Your soul was tugged at again.

“Isn’t it so much easier to let go? To give in?”

“To just give up all your relationships? People are so difficult to be around…”

You remember it always being hard to connect with anyone after your friend had left you, she never came back, why would anyone else?

You befriended Frisk… but you never invited them over or tried to hang out with them or their friends… work, you had to work--

“No friends… you were so afraid they would leave you too...”

“No real family.... Because your parents hated you.”

“It’s no wonder your soul doesn’t know what it even is. Forever changing, forever confused~” The warm embrace only tightened even more, causing you to gasp as the distant words filled you. It felt as if someone, something, was reaching deep inside of you, either pushing or pulling. Your body ached. A black fog-like tentacle looked to wrap itself around the shining heart, giving it a tight grip. From this action you felt a strange hold on you, and you tried not to make a sound as it was toyed and played with. Teased… the thing was teasing you. It was so good yet so bad… why did it feel good yet feel so bad?

“You never cared for yourself, you cared about things around you so much you always ignored your own needs… drowning yourself in work, and you hated everyone. You wanted everyone to die, you didn’t think so at first… but after awhile your hatred grew and before you knew it you were willing to kill them--”

“That’s… not me. You don’t know me.” You finally heard your own voice let out a call, immediately the heart yanked itself from the tendril just to return to your chest. Your soul returned, no longer being tugged. You felt relief… longing, but relief.

“I was alone but happy… I was alone but I was happy!”

Happiness was all that really mattered, right? So long as you stayed DETERMINED to be happy even in your lonesome it would all be okay. You yelled, the world crumbling, the distant voice and the comforting embrace wavered as you cried out “I didn’t need to prove anything…! I didn’t need to show I was right or wrong-- I didn’t need to do anything to anyone because I was alone and I knew who I was--” You smiled, you were practically laughing as your world shattered and you were left in the dark “I’m not a bad person but I know I’m not a good one either… but it doesn’t matter who or what I am so long as… so long…”

As soon as you open your eyes, you could feel how swollen they were. The petals had vanished as if they were a dream, and you were staring tiredly up at the ceiling.

A stray tear fell down your cheek, leaving your skin feeling singed, and you quickly lifted your arm to wipe it away. After all this time of fighting it down, you remembered her in a dream(Or even nightmare). Your friend, one of the many children that vanished into the underground. How close you were to joining her, how much you wish you had … back then, there was no monster history. There were legends and rumors and stories, but there was no proof of magic let alone monsters being banished underground.

What made you believe then? The thought that something, someone, HAD to have found your friend and taken them away from you. Did that motivate you?

Did you want to learn more about them from revenge? Or was it really just curiousity?

You recalled your own parents wanting to keep you from your dreams; they were persistent in telling you how wrong you were as a child until the day Frisk walked with the monsters down the streets. Even as your family tore apart and, funny, your parents stopped all communications with you when you ran off to college… you were DETERMINED to keep going.

You had no reason to prove people wrong or right, because the facts were there, in the flesh and bone.

You took a moment to realize you were under the blankets of the bed, shifting slightly as your eyes glanced downward over yourself. You couldn’t remember when you had fallen asleep, let alone climbed under the covers.

There was a sudden glimmer under your shirt beneath the blankets. Looking down quickly again, you reacted immediately and lifted your shirt to peek at your chest, only to find that the strange light had faded. Whatever it was, it was gone now-- but you wondered if it had anything to do with your dream.

With a small smile, you slowly sat up in the bed, realizing you were still in Flowey’s house. You didn’t know how long you had been sleeping, but apparently it was long enough to heal you up completely. Your arm, your ankle, your lip… there was no part of you that was sore anymore. Strange enough, even the callouses and blisters, the rope burn on your hands, had vanished as if it never even existed. A weight had been lifted off your shoulders and chest, you were pretty calm, and even felt tingly all over.

You swung your legs off the edge of the bed, throwing the covers off of you in the process. But before standing you found a plate on the floor beside your feet. It was a slice of pie.

You bent over to pick it up and bring it to your lap. The fork impaled at its center, you yanked it out with a piece of the top crust and filling.

Did Flowey make this for you? The thoughts of it being poisoned filled your head, but you still believed that deep down Flowey wasn’t so bad. He was trying to hide his feelings, but you wondered if (whether he agreed to stay underground or not) he was hurt that he didn’t get to go to the surface with everyone else. Even heroes felt regret from time to time, and maybe this pie was proof that he was upset the two of you kept fighting. You knew better than to fight fire with fire, but it turned into a yelling match… you never were much of a peacekeeper.

Or maybe the pie was just a trick. There was no real way to find out other than to take a bite. You smiled to yourself. Knowing the pie was probably poisoned, you took the bite anyway.

The instant it hit your tastebuds you weren’t sure what to make of the flavor-- but then you recognized it as french cuisine.

...Escargot.

Never having been a fan of the stuff, you weren’t sure you wanted to finish it. However before you could set it back down your stomach protested to keep going, telling you that this was better than not eating anything at all. Reminding yourself that your rations were gone all in one day since they were dipped and sitting in mud yesterday(?), you push forward and ate the whole slice. You had to have something in your empty stomach after all, nothing more embarrassing than dying only your second day underground.

Well, there probably were things a bit worse perhaps(Or better).

Once you were full, you gently stood to your feet, leaving your boots and belongings in the room as you headed for the bedroom door to leave. Stepping into the hallway you were overwhelmed with the wonderful smell of sweets, and you decided to try and follow it. Wandering back to the living room, and then over towards the kitchen to see that, though it was lacking anyone there (or at least any flower), there were a few opened cookbooks along the counter, as well as two pies and a tray of cookies on the stove.

...did Flowey really know how to bake?

You were tempted to start poking around and tasting some of the baked goods, however you forced yourself to simply place the empty plate into the kitchen sink. Trying the handle to the sink, to your dismay no water seemed to pour down, not even a droplet. You turned and exited the kitchen to return to the family room while still forcing your will to not eat the food scattered about the kitchen. The fire was still illuminating the area and keeping it as warm as the rest of the house, and it was comfortable and inviting if you ignored all the small spots where vines and plants grew and covered sections of the walls and floors. The warmth surrounding you, it made you think back to your dream. The comforting words, the hug, all turning tight and dark… the pie at the side of your bed, waking up to being under the blankets when you could have sworn you went to bed on top of them--

You were feeling a bit uncomfortable, were you overthinking it? You probably just got under the blankets while you were asleep due to the cold… maybe. It couldn’t have been him.

Well, with Flowey not being anywhere in sight, you decided it was time to start browsing.

You went to the bookshelf and skimmed the titles of all the books, hoping there was something about monsterkind and their background. To your discomfort, they were all recipe books about cooking snails, and a few other books for cooking. You did surprisingly find a book about quantum physics-- you never took Flowey for a scientific character. Curiously pulling out the book and opening it, you snorted when it revealed a joke book inside instead, though opening the joke book revealed yet another book on quantum physics. You opened up said quantum physics books for there to be yet another joke book within. And then opening that showed another book on, well, quantum physics.

You looked at the camera unknowingly before closing the book and placing it back on the shelf.

Well then.

You knew where the home was located, so you figured you could always go back to it. Flowey wasn’t around right now, and though you didn’t know where he would pop up next, you also didn’t want to sit around and find out. You were feeling a lot better, more refreshed and prepared. You returned to the bedroom you had crashed in and laced up your boots, grabbing your backpack(Which felt heavier than you remembered it to be, but you lugged it anyway).

Spotting the front door and noting the vines had vanished, you smiled to yourself. “Maybe we’ll start seeing some good luck.” You breathed a sigh of relief as you slipped your coat back on and opened the door to step out, shutting it behind you as you slid the bag onto your back. The plan for the moment was to go back and see if you could fix the rope. Maybe the other half fell from the hole, and it would allow you to tie them together and toss it back up? You knew it sounded stupid as you repeated the idea to yourself, but you had to go off of something. So far there were no actual ideas as to your escape plan, other than climbing back out the hole that was way too far to reach by normal means. You pondered the idea over and over again in your head while making your way back to where you had fallen before. There was electricity in the home, so backtracking to the areas that only held torches along the walls felt like being demoted; which you also still feared in the back of your mind. The thought of escaping only for Frisk to tell you they were so disappointed scared the daylights out of you, but you tried to set your priorities straight. Think about your health and well being first, before your job. Which was hard to do, considering your dream did have a point… you used your work to distract yourself from other things that you didn’t even want to admit.

With a past like yours though, could you really help it?

After having made it back, you were startled to see the bobbing flower in the patch of sunlight, sticking its head higher than the rest. It must have been Flowey, but all he was doing was staring upward, as if waiting for something.

“I don’t think I mind you in my playground, not one bit.”

He was lonely. It was obvious, but he just didn’t want to admit how he really felt so he hid it behind anger, hatred, and violence. A flower with no soul, but it didn’t necessarily mean he lacked feelings, did it? There had to have been something there…

“I’ll never be him!”

Who was he actually referring to?

You were cautious with your approach, entering the cavern through the doorway and making silent footsteps in the dark. You thought you heard a distant echo bounce off the walls, though looking around, it was only you and Flowey. You then wondered if he was doing one of his weird tricks again, however you got close enough to hear him mumbling “Just throw the damn letter already, dumbass.”

“Huh?” You blurted out, covering your mouth as soon as Flowey’s head turned quickly to look your way. You were directly behind him, and though his head had turned fast as if surprised, his expression was more annoyed than shocked.

“Well good morning, sunshine. ” Flowey sounded more like he was forcing a peppy tone than actually feeling peppy himself, his attention wasn’t on you for long before he returned to looking upward. You joined him, suddenly watching a letter float down, as well as hearing more faint yelling from somewhere.

Was it from the hole?

Hope filled your heart as you quickly sprang upward. “Papyrus?!” You called out, slowly stepping into the patch of flowers. As the letter floated downward still, Flowey stretched himself out to catch it, ignoring you as you continued to yell up “PAPYRUS, IT’S ME!! PLEASE CAN YOU TOSS ME THAT ROPE?!” You heard someone yell back, but the hole was so far up that you couldn’t see who was poking their head down, and you couldn’t even make out what they were even saying. You simply noted that the rope with the hook still swayed back and forth, and the other half was, well, down here with you.

“ PAPYRUS!! ” You tried one more time, however this time no one yelled back.

“Sucks to suck.” Flowey snickered, over at his pile of letters he had reorganized yesterday when you two had first met. Glancing his way rather tiredly, you did your best to give him the angry stare down. However it didn’t do much, since he had already opened the letter and was reading it.

Choke on it, Flowey. You mentally sneered at him, though suddenly something hard and pretty solid hit the back of your head, causing you to yell in pain as you fell forward and practically face planted into the golden flower bed. Lifting a hand to touch your head, you felt a lump forming in your hair, but you were thankful there wasn’t any blood as you looked up towards the hole again. “What the hell? ”

Flowey popped up next to you, yanking whatever it was that hit your head “Oh, must be the spice Papyrus was talking about.” You were dumbfounded as Flowey studied the small glass bottle that had hit you, ignoring your well being entirely as he popped away again back to his letter pile.

“Why aren’t you helping me?!” You finally yelled at him, your voice raised as high as it had been moments ago when you were trying to get the mail carriers attention. It was obvious that the person was Papyrus, since that was clarified yesterday, but you couldn’t recognize their voice from how far the hole was from where you were. You carried on with a huff, your voice lowering “Can’t you just stretch up to get me out?!”

“Tsk.” Flowey clicked his tongue, his eyes skimming the letter with one hand(or leaf) and the other holding the tiny jar “That’s not how this works… that’s just not how any of this works. But you tried, that’s all that matters.”

Deep breaths , you tried to calm down as you took one breath in, held it, then let it go. Getting mad at Flowey solved nothing, all that’d happen is him crushing you (or attempting to) and running away again. Yesterday you recalled even making him cry, which your heart was aching just from the memory of it. “Flowey…” You started attempt two “Is there any way, at all, to contact Papyrus? Or anyone on the surface?”

“Probably.” He responded too quickly for your liking “But last time I mentioned Dr. Alphys you seemed a bit flustered.”

For good reason too, that you decided not to mention.

“There’s a phone or something there?” You asked, dragging yourself nearer to him. The sunlight was warm and calm, but it was also one direct beam, you were getting hot in all your layers. “Could you take me there?”

Flowey seemed to ponder over whether to agree to the idea of escorting you or not, however before he could finish you remembered the pie and being tucked into bed, and quickly added “Um… I thought I had slept above the blankets in your bed… but I found myself underneath them.”

The golden flower had suddenly paused their movements.

You couldn’t help but smile then “And...well, did you make that pie for me?”

Flowey apparently lost his train of thought, suddenly looking at you with wide eyes and blinking rather slowly. Totally ignoring what you had first said, he mumbled “....what pie?”

You relaxed, slowly kneeling yourself down in the dirt beside Flowey and his letters. The closeness seemed to have made Flowey lean away a bit “When I woke up there was a plate of, uh, snail pie at the bedside. In fact I saw a ton of random treats in the kitchen-- that I promise I didn’t eat.” You must’ve been dead on the mark, considering Flowey’s cheeks were suddenly a light shade of pink. He wasn’t even looking at you, his eyes were trained elsewhere. You hummed “It was delicious, and the bed was really comfortable. Thanks for letting me stay.”

“Yeah well, I didn’t technically let you.” Flowey retorted and looked back over your face, squinting his eyes at you “You kinda just decided to crash. I just… didn't mind it, is all.”

“Right.” You nodded and smiled softly, not wanting to mention that it was technically forced since Flowey had locked the front door “Thank you, anyway.” Flowey was fumbling with the letter then, not reading it anymore but not putting it down. Probably just so that he could focus on something else other than you, but he finally set it down on his stack of other letters “Tch… whatever.”

There was a silence between the two of you, though you found it rather… nice. It was nice to not be yelling back and forth, and you did your best to not smooch the flower.

Reminder, you did your very best to not smooch the flower.

Against your better judgement you did anyway, it was quick and gentle like before, gracing your lips on one of his many petals. This time however, Flowey didn’t seem to quickly retract from it, or vanish. He sat there, his petals almost cowering from your touch of affection, and even when you pulled away to see his reaction he only showed a blush on his face while gently tapping at the pile of letters, making sure they were in a neat stack.

“Is this going to be a thing of yours?” He finally breathed out, almost sounding like it was through gritted teeth. You tilted you head thoughtfully “Probably. So long as you let me live, you get more.”

He snickered “Then I should just kill you, huh?”

You called his bluff “If you don’t like my kisses, then sure. If you do, then the longer I’m alive the more you get.”

It returned to silence again, and you mentally high fived yourself.

After a moment, he simply cleared his throat while staring downward, changing the subject as if everything before hadn’t happened “In some of the letters, there’s recipes Papyrus gives to me.” He lifted the tiny bottle of spice and shook it gently “Hence the spices. Sometimes he’ll toss down a boxful. It’ll get all over the place but they’re always usable.”

“Wow,” You were jutting out your bottom lip thoughtfully while listening. You never really thought of Papyrus’ food to be… well… amazing. Of course you only ever had it once, there were a few times at work where if Toriel had no time to make Frisk’s lunch or they didn’t make their own, then Papyrus would apparently have spaghetti(It was literally. Always. Spaghetti.) prepared for them. You saw it a few times, having gotten accustomed to Toriel’s cooking, seeing the spaghetti made you curious and Frisk ‘dared’ you to try it. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good either. In the end you only had his spaghetti once before passing whenever Frisk offered more.

Neither good nor bad, but then again it was the same mixed feeling you had when eating the slice of escargot pie. You decided to be blunt “Isn’t Papyrus… um… not that great of a cook?”

Flowey snorted, looking at you then “His food stinks, but he still has potential. You’d be surprised how many other timelines he’s actually done well for himself. Five star chef well.” Flowey almost sounded as if he were bragging about Papyrus, which was admittedly adorable. For a flower who ‘hated everyone’, wanted everyone to die, he was pretty close to Papyrus. He even complimented the skeleton without realizing it.

You lifted a hand to rub your cheek, now your eyes lowered down to the stack of letters as you tried to think over the thought of timelines. There it was again, that word... “Timelines?”

“Yeah. Not the intertwining of different spaces of time, but alternate universes and parallel worlds disconnected from each other. It’s not as generic as time control.”

Maybe this was why he had the quantum physics book at his place. You had no idea what he was talking about. “Uh, I don’t think I get that.”

Flowey snorted, looking away smugly “And you never will. Like I said, you’re not the main character so there’s really nothing either of us can do about it. You don’t need to worry your pretty little head about a thing. ”

There definitely was more you wanted to know, but you were already having trouble wrapping your head around his words. He had mentioned this more than just a couple times to you, so you really needed to know what it meant. SAVE … RESET… what did all of that mean, and what did it have to do with a story, or being the main character of something? All you could think about was the idea of someone writing a book about one person, though finding out all along it was about someone else. You mentally shrugged, trying to hide your confusion even though it was planted on your face.

“Anyway…” Flowey decided to carry on, probably realizing how your brain was shutting down “There’s more than just the ruins underground... if you really want my help, then we’re going to have to leave this place.” He stuck out his tongue “The exit to get out the ruins is in the basement of my house.”

You felt somewhat annoyed that you had backtracked just to be told you needed to turn around. But it couldn’t be helped, and Flowey didn’t seem to say anything else other than winking your way and sinking into the earth. He took his spices with him, leaving his letters neatly stacked in their usual form. There wasn’t much time for you to think things through anymore, you had to move forward. That itchy feeling of having stayed in one area too long made you in a rush to get somewhere new, and Flowey was apparently your only way out. Your enemy and your friend, frienemy.

Giving the hole above you one last glance-- the wave of sadness from the fact that it was so close and yet so far-- you turned around and walked all the way back to Flowey’s house, entering with ease and deciding not to distract yourself with wandering around the home again. There wasn’t much else that needed to be explored, except for the locked bedroom, though you suspected you wouldn’t be getting inside anytime soon. With a disheartened sigh you headed for the basement stairs. You weren’t sure when Flowey would arrive to guide you out, but you reached the basement floor and pressed your feet down into the plush ground. Soft and somewhat plump earth, you noted that it probably wasn’t exactly a basement as you walked down the long and rather narrow hall. You were concerned that it went on forever, however soon enough you spotted two large doors, wide open and waiting for you.

“Flowey?” You called out, though your voice was light and almost hesitant as you approached the open purple doors. Looking them over, you continued through and kept walking forward rather carefully, already concerned that the lights were beginning to dim the farther down you went. The path eventually lead to a brick doorway, and past said doorway was another bright beam of sun shining down on a large circle of grass. And in said grass, Flowey smiled almost too patiently, waiting for you.

“Hiya friend!” He said almost with a chirp, smiling still as you approached. You were looking around the darkened cavern with concern, though eventually you returned to focusing on the flower before you. The beam of sunlight was warm, but of course since it was so direct it caused you to get rather hot too quickly. You didn’t back away though, Flowey was too focused on you as much as you were him, last thing you wanted was to accidentally cause him to get angry. “Past this door leads to the rest of the underground.” Flowey looked back towards the second set of purple double doors, similar to the doors before that were already wide open. He sighed “It’s basically like a straight line all the way to Alphys’ lab, so it won’t be so bad.” He looked back to you then, his smile somewhat shrinking “Are you ready?”

The look on his face made you worry, but you gave yourself a look over as if making sure you really were prepared for what lied ahead. Backpack with medical supplies, your gear, a busted cellphone and a pocketful of miracles-- check! The cavern the two of you were in was warm thanks to the sun, however there was a rather cold chill that seemed to blow directly at you, as if it were coming from the door. It felt almost like a winter breeze, soothing because of the humidity from the ruins, but also an unwelcomed cold that you definitely were not properly dressed for. You shivered, but you couldn’t tell whether it was a shiver of anticipation or from the cold. “As ready as I’ll ever be.” You managed with a small smile, returning the expression to Flowey who, surprisingly, turned away fast when you looked back to him. He mumbled “Alright… well…”

With two vines slowly growing from the Earth beside him, they stretched out to the doors and practically threw them open. And with it, a huge gust of wind flew in your direction. You breathed out, swallowing down the freezing air, and your body instantly forming goosebumps along your skin. Opening your eyes to the piles of snow on the other side, and the bits of snowflakes that flew into the room you remained planted in, your body stiffened at how cold it looked and felt there. It was like staring into a Winter Wonderland, the trees had died, snow coated the earth, and the air felt so fresh. It was so strange, how one room felt like Spring and suddenly you would be walking right into Winter.

“Welcome…” Flowey hummed in content, however something had made them pause.

You felt his eyes fixated on you, studying for your reaction, but your own eyes were looking ahead through the double doors. It was a strange rush, a part of you fearful for what’s to come, another part of you overwhelmed by the sights before you. Flowey eventually spoke up again, his voice almost breathless as if he had seen something he hadn’t in such a long time. Like an old spirit witnessing something new.

“Welcome… to the Underground, adventurer.”

Notes:

>I've been told that some folks don't like it when it gets fluffy too soon but.>yolo amirite

Notes:

Chapter Text

Chapter Seven: You Tasted Treason

With the gust calming down, leaving nothing more than a fresh cool breeze in its stead, you felt your breath had been taken away. Such a discovery-- a world where it felt like walking from Spring to Winter just a door away. Your fear had somewhat turned into excitement, the need to explore and adventure overwhelming your mind as your curiousity was obviously planted on your face. Curiousity, wonderment, bliss. The unknown was just as terrifying as it was magical. Being mesmerized by the whole new world that lied ahead of you, your face expressed excitement and fear all rolled into one.

“Wow…” Flowey suddenly said, his eyes had never left you even after he had opened the door. You finally returned the look, noticing his perplexed and intrigued expression. “I’ve never seen someone react like that… you look pretty excited.”

“Who wouldn’t be?” You admitted, almost too giddily as you clasped your hands together in front of your chest. As excited as you were though, you stayed put, basically waiting for Flowey’s mark.

Flowey smiled somewhat at this, finally pulling his eyes away from you and using the petals on his head to give a nodding gesture towards the door “Ooookay~ Whatever~ Surface dwellers are freaks but I digress… “ He sighed “Just keep going ahead. We’ll meet up at the exit of Snowdin--”

You let out a noise that alerted him, the flower quickly looking back to you. Though he was bemused, he muttered rather annoyedly “What.”

“You’re um…” You tried to think of the best way to put your thoughts into words “You’re not going to travel with me?”

Flowey stared at you, now he looked pretty disinterested “I’m a fucking flower.”

“So?”

“I want you to tell me how many flowers survive being planted in snow, I know you’ll need some time to think over that thought. But think about it, and then when you do, get back to me on that.”

You rubbed your hands together to keep warm, trying to figure something out “Look I know we’ve had our differences, but I could really use a guide right now. Not someone who just gives me directions and leaves me alone, I just need somebody to be with me.”

“Aw~” Flowey grinned, patting his own cheeks as he forced himself to blush “You’re lonely~? I’m so flattered~!” He continued smiling even after he turned away from you “So anyway just watch out for some parts of Snowdin, some snow will look shallow but you could wind up sinking into a big pile of it. And be careful of the ice it’s quite slippery--”

You frowned and audibly interrupted him again “Flowey…”

He side eyed you “Human, how about this.” He slowly turned himself back around to face you fully, and at that point you were already shivering from the chill of the other world. “Go as far as you can on your own, if you really need me just call. Like I said, voices carry when it’s this empty.” You realy wished there was some way for the two of you to travel together, but then you do wonder if it would be safer with him around anyway.

As if reading your mind, Flowey added “Not to worry~ there’s no one else around but me. I’ve been down here for years and haven’t died if you noticed. Technically, the only thing you have to fear is dear old Flowey~! And you’re already failing at that so what else could go wrong?” He snickered then, winking and lifting a tendril to stretch up to your face. He let the tip of it brush over your cheek almost too delicately, it caused even more shivers to run down your spine; but you couldn’t tell whether they were good vibes or bad. The thought of what had happened a few hours ago flooded your mind, and maybe it was the flush on your face that caused Flowey to retract his vine from you. He simply muttered “Okay… Well, have fun!” Before sinking into the earth.

Well? What did he expect after going from 0 to 100 real quick?

You stepped into the sun fully now that Flowey had vanished, warming up immediately and taking your time to absorb as much heat as you could, before you pushed onward. You were so used to Flowey all over the ruins that being alone felt abnormal, whether he was psycho or not. Then again, your case sounded a lot like stockholm syndrome, a violent and vicious (yet teasing and adorable) attacker keeps you wanting and needing them to the point of thinking you can’t handle the world without them.

Maybe the two of you did need some… space.

“Alright…” You assured yourself with a firm nod, slowly stepping forward out the light. The warmth you had absorbed was already leaving your skin, and by the time you actually stepped through the doorway to the next world you were back to feeling that cold shiver all over your body. You trembled, goosebumps made their way over your skin as your hairs stood on end.

Flowey had called it Snowdin, you couldn’t tell whether that was a play on words or the actual name of the area. But other than the snow lying around, the area looked quite dark. There was only one path that implied for you to move forward, and the path was surrounded by tall trees. As you started to walk the cold and eerily silent walkway, you found yourself looking upward to at least see what sort of trees they were. However they were so tall that you couldn’t even see the treetops. And behind all the crowds of trees there was nothing but darkness. So far, you were cold, afraid, and rather exposed.

Flowey had told you that there was no one else but him around, so there was no need to be afraid to walk alone. But then again, Flowey was someone to surely be afraid of and even he confirmed this.

‘...and you’re already failing at that so what else could go wrong?’ Flowey had told you moments ago.

That was good, it meant that even though you still held a small fear towards the flower, apparently it wasn’t expressed well enough for Flowey to notice. This was good, right?

Eventually you reached a rickety bridge, at least it looked like it once you approached. The wood was worn down, frail, chipped, and nudging your foot carefully against it determined it was definitely a bit shaky. It was surely not safe to walk across, but from how large the gap was you couldn’t tell if there were any other options. Over the gap and bridge was a gate of sorts, to you it looked like a poor attempt at recreating the spirit gate from Japanese culture, a Torii. Walking through this symbolized stepping from one plane to the next, from the profane to the sacred… you weren’t certain whether this was what the builder had implied, or whether it was just a simple gate.

“Arm strength.” You told yourself aloud, flexing and prepping your arms in case you did manage to fall. You hoped to yourself that you would catch the edge of solid ground on time as you carefully made your way across. The moment you fully stepped onto it, the wood wailed and groaned beneath your boots. You wished you weren’t wearing such heavy equipment, and a smart idea suddenly occurred to you. Removing your backpack from your back, you tossed it all the way into the snow on the other side, and you continued to make it to the center of the bridge.

You’d think that Flowey would take care of the bridges here too, like you had assumed he had done from the small bridges in the ruins. Though the reminder that Flowey lectured you about not doing well in cold climates implied that Flowey probably did not visit this area much.

You were three quarters to the other side (which was good, that was close to a dollar) when your foot fell right through a plank, sending your whole leg plummeting into the bridge. Your pant leg tore with it, your leg showing scratches from where some of the sharp broken edges had scraped and pierced your skin on your way down. The half fall was so sudden that you didn’t even have time to yell out in fear, all you felt was the deep pain that made your nerves yell at your brain and heart. Your chest pounded, your leg throbbed, and your mind was wavering.

You squirmed and wriggled to try and climb out of the hole you had created, but it only caused the bridge to shake with your movements, making you to sit more still all the while trying to escape. Your leg was hurt, and now clawing at the bridge to lift yourself up, your fingers were taking in splinter after splinter before you finally managed to pull yourself and, deciding with a huff, crawled across the rest of the way. Making it right next to your backpack, you ignored the bridge collapsing completely behind you, pulling your backpack up and dragging it tiredly to the path before simply sitting down on the ground. Why did luck hate you so much that no matter what you did down here it wound up either attacking you or making inanimate objects fall from a simple touch?

You opened up your bag, ignoring the unfamiliar package inside as you skimmed for your health kit. “Great.” You mumbled under your shaky breath, all the while pulling out bandage and things needed to fix up your scrapes and injuries. The way you had fallen, the long scratches looked as if you had been mauled by an animal with ferocious claws, or like you had yanked your leg out of the jaws of a great white shark. You didn’t have enough bandaids to simply cover all of your leg, so you decided to just spray some disinfectant and wrap the whole leg in gauze. It was the best you could do, you’d worry about splinters in your leg later. You slid the bag back on before lifting up and continuing forward, all the while plucking painful splinters out your fingers.

As much as you wanted to wander and explore a bit more, your body was already shivering uncontrollably now, your fingers were aching as much as your scraped leg, and you reminded yourself that Flowey told you to just keep going straight through.

Unlike the ruins where there were beams of sunlight shining down every now and again, in this part of the underground nothing could be seen so far up. It took on the appearance of eternal night time, and though there were tiny specks of light in the faint distance that you could manage to see, they resembled stars mostly… and the light was so miniscule that it didn’t shine down or reach the snowy ground. You kept pushing ahead, going straight as instructed, and then you reached a thick and large patch of ice.

It didn’t exactly catch you off guard from how large of a patch it was, however it didn’t stop your feet from skidding along it once you accidentally took the tiniest step at the edge. You slid leftward, frowning deeply the entire time as you attempted to wiggle in the other direction. Of course it wasn’t really working, but you tried nonetheless all until you felt yourself gently crash into the snow. Lightly falling over, you jumped up quickly to dust off the snow from your backside and pants, not enjoying the view of yourself. You had woken up ready and optimistic, and now you were already injured just from a bridge alone. Bleeding, scraped and bruised, and now cold and covered in snow.

Getting back on track(sort of), you saw a small lump of snow, however it didn’t seem like just any pile of snow to you. As you left footprints in the ground behind you, finally making it to the small patch of path, you found what appeared to be a tiny picket sign. It was faintly marked, but you could barely read out the words “Just Moved!” in the worn wood, and you gave a small smile at this. A part of you wondered if some of the residents underground had taken a bit of snow with them back to the surface.

But then again, that would have been ridiculous.

Did um… snow monsters exist? You wondered this thoughtfully.

Making your way back and barely managing to shimmy around the large ice patch, you carried forward. You were freezing, but the numbness was slowly washing over you and giving you a faint sense of warmth. The less you were feeling, the more warm you felt, which you knew was a bad sign of becoming a bit ‘too’ cold but there was only so much your weather resistant jacket could do. It survived a fall, mud and rough terrain, but was it made for cold resistance? Not exactly. Next time something similar to these events ever happened, you knew you would get a better jacket that would be able to handle everything. The numbing cold however had helped your legs pain calm down, the throbbing sensation had relaxed and cooled.

Another bridge had to be crossed(that thankfully wasn’t as poorly damaged as the first) just to make it to a wide clearing. Once again there was another huge patch of ice, however right at the part of the ice you had entered there sat a huge snowball. It looked almost freshly made, but then again it didn’t make sense for it to be if Flowey was, infact, the only one underground and didn’t like the area of Snowdin. The weather in the area was freezing, though. It made sense if the snowball was conserved since years ago, considering the temperature was pretty close to a freezer.

You figured the best idea was to use the huge snowball to your advantage, as you slid yourself closer, the mound was a little more than half your height, the top of said snowball having reached your chest as you rolled it carefully and shimmied your feet along the slick ground. Thankfully the patch of ice was just as solid as the last one, however the closer you got to the other side the more the snowball started to melt from your body heat. It shrank ever so slowly, leaving wet markings under your boots as you made your way. Eventually it was so tiny that it couldn’t support you anymore, however you spotted what appeared to be a weird hole at the end inside of the ice. Almost as if the whole scene were just a small game of mini-golf.

The snowball was now the side of a golf ball, so with a small chuckle to yourself, you carefully shoved the tiny remains of the snowball into the hole. As soon as it landed, a rather strange noise sounded. Rather… demented, it sounded like a victory recording, however the batteries must have died since no one had been taking care of the ice game. It sounded more like a broken toy than anything exciting, and though you heard a loud click sound within the hole, nothing popped out towards you. Sliding yourself closer to peek inside, you saw a variety of colors within the hole. Perhaps if the game was working, it would have chosen a colorful flag for you?

Perhaps.

As you kept going through the snow and the very much alive pine trees(trees grew underground, go figure), you chose to ignore that there was a microwave sitting by a table in the middle of nowhere, and you persevered. Your body was trembling but completely numb, now the only warm parts of you were your sweaty feet from how thick your boots were and how tight they felt snuggling your toes. You had to maneuver around a lot of strange puzzles and obstacles, all deactivated of course, in order to just make it to yet another bridge. The only difference however was the fact that it was very much longer than previous bridges you had crossed, hanging rather low, gently swinging in the icy cold breeze. A rope bridge, of all things. While yes it was better considering it was supported by rope rather than hanging on its own without any supports, it was still fairly dangerous. Planks were missing, the rope could have been completely unsecured, and who knew how much weight it could handle if no one, not even Flowey, had used it in all the years the monsters lived above ground?

But by the looks of it, there was really no other way around it.

“Okay…” You told yourself, trying to motivate yourself to move forward. It wasn’t exactly working though, because you stood your ground and your feet refused to move. It took you about five minutes of trembling in place before you dragged your feet through the snow, approaching the bridge and carefully taking a step onto the wood.

Would it be safer to run across? A quick sprint? Or should you really just take it one tiny step at a time.

“I don’t wanna die…” You managed to admit aloud to yourself, slowly taking it one step at a time while holding onto both sides of the bridge. The planks creaked and wailed beneath each heavy step you took, and the ropes sounded almost forcibly stretched while you clung to them and slid your hands forward against their hold. Everything around you made noise, except you of course. You felt that the moment you let out even a faint breath you would suddenly be tumbling down with the bridge into the dark pit beneath you. It took you what felt like an hour just to get ¼ way across, and then it felt like two just to get halfway there.

You mumbled something incoherent to yourself at the realization that you were simply taking way too long, and in the distance you could finally see a rather worn down sign that read “Welcome to Snowdin”. Christmas lights flickered in an abstract pattern, a few of the lights you figured were burnt out, while others you assumed would simply break any day now. With Snowdin so close in your line of sight, you were filled with DETERMINATION to hurry, or maybe you were just feeling that familiar tingly rush again.

Your leg that had been terribly injured from your bridge fall earlier was now completely numbed down thanks to the cold, so you had enough strength to hurry across. With a quick push forward, you practically flung yourself ahead, using the side ropes to carefully(yet swiftly) wobble across the groaning bridge. Taking large steps over the gaps beneath you, you were surprised that by the time you collapsed into the snow on the other side, the bridge was still swinging gently behind you, as if you did nothing to it to cause harm. Perhaps it was more sturdy than you expected it to be.

You let out a sigh of relief, sitting in the snow for awhile to regain your composure, before carefully standing up and making your way to the Snowdin welcome sign.

As you suspected, some of the lights were completely dead, while others were flickering on their last bit of power. Now that you thought about it, Flowey had to have made a generator in order to keep the undergrounds power running, right? If he hadn’t made his own, then it was probably implied that he at least took care of the one that remained underground since the other monsters had left.

Looking down the path through the tiny town, all of the lights were off. The homes looked vacant, the street lamps were darkened, and with this much emptiness it almost looked eerie. There wasn’t a single sound other than your own light and shaky breathing, and you took a few steps towards the shop before trying the door.

Rather happy that it was unlocked, you opened the door and stepped inside. Completely dark other than the faint blue light that came from the outside, you could make out a counter and a few ransacked supplies, but besides that it was just as empty as you had expected it to be. You stepped fully in and shut the door behind you, though the store wasn’t entirely warm, it was still nicer than sitting outside. Your stomach growled, letting it be known that you were already starving again. How long had it been since you had that slice of snail pie?

You wandered about the store, rummaging through the few remaining items that were around, and thankful you found a new flashlight to use. With the flashlight you conveniently found batteries, and illuminated your way through… well… nothing. There wasn’t much of anything that could be of use besides the flashlight. And with this, your stomach yelled again. “Dammit.” You breathed out, though much more warmer than outside in the snow, you could still see your breath every time you spoke to yourself. Whether starving or not, you wanted to warm up before going back outside, so you set your backpack and belongings on top of the store counter and checked yourself over.

Your leg was doing better, the cold somewhat helped stop the bleeding, so you relaxed against the counter as you opened up your backpack to prepare to change the wrappings around your leg. That was when you saw something rather surprising.

Something wrapped up in a white napkin?

Carefully pulling it out, you arched a brow in confusion as you unwrapped the napkin. To your surprise(not that you weren’t surprised already) you found three cookies and one slice of pie. All three were familiar from Flowey’s kitchen.

Well, your whole body suddenly got a lot warmer than it was a mere few seconds ago.

“What a guy.” You snorted softly, your stomach accepting the (what you supposed it was) peace offerings happily as you immediately ate two of the cookies. They tasted somewhat spicy, but it was a delicious sort of spiciness you never had. You forced yourself to not eat the last cookie, but couldn’t help it when you tried one bite of the pie. It didn’t look like the escargot pie you had earlier, which was the main reason you wanted to have a taste. And when the bite melted in your mouth it surely wasn’t the same either. Was this… cinnamon? Or was it butterscotch?

Either way, your body was positively cozy at the moment. Not full, but content enough to keep going. Surprisingly, all thanks to your frienemy.

Re-wrapping the gift and placing it back into your backpack, you slipped the straps over your shoulders and figured you could leave the store. Carefully opening the door to re-greet the cold, you shuddered, however you were still cozy with good taste and feelings. However as soon as you stepped outside and shut the door behind yourself, you heard someone yelling in protest.

“FUCK!”

The area was so big that the outburst echoed throughout the Snowdin town, bouncing off the distant walls and houses of the cavern far away from you, only to come back to your ears as a whisper. You tried to look around to see where it was coming from, but as you walked past the store and started your way through the rest of the town, you found no one in particular. Either you were hearing things, or it had to have been Flowey. Not that you could trust whether he lied about being alone or not, but he was the only other person (or… plant) that you knew of. You even managed to make it all the way up to a building that resembled a bar, only to find that the few steps you had taken were the only sounds you could hear.

You were alone.

Huffing under your breath, you glance over the bar to see that it was a Grillby’s. Probably the very first one now that you thought it over. There was one in your home town, but you never went. You weren’t much of a drinker, and you weren’t the type to hang out with big groups at bars anyway. There had been a few times that Frisk invited you out to meet up with their friends at Grillby’s, but you would always decline and just go home. You knew why you would decline, but for the sake of your own sanity you held back those thoughts and reasons before walking past the building. You didn’t go to bars on the surface, no use trying to go underground.

You knew you were supposed to meet Flowey right outside of Snowdin, however once you spotted the library you couldn’t help but enter inside and flip on your flashlight. As expected, close to all of the shelves were empty, even a few had small folded up pieces of paper that simply stated “Moving On Up!” Though you did spot one book sitting on top of the front desk as you made your way to it, setting your bag on top of the counter space and pulling out your journal. You needed to write down all your findings while they were fresh in your mind, before delving into even more research.

A dark green book, no actual title other than, what you supposed was, the name of the author. However the book was rather worn, stale even, and coated in a dust that even your fingertips couldn’t wipe off no matter how much you tried to brush away. Opening it up you turned your head as a puff of dust lifted, managing a faint cough from your throat before returning to focus back on the book. Reading over the excerpt carefully:

“Love, hope, compassion…

This is what people say monster SOULs are made of.But the absolute nature of “SOUL” is unknown.After all, humans have proven their SOULs don’t need these things to exist.”

“Did I ever ask Frisk what exactly a monster soul was?” You asked yourself aloud as you gently closed the book, carefully tucking it away into your bag and reorganizing it to make sure the snacks didn’t get crushed underneath any weight(because they were, of course, the real MVP). The book was mostly based on assumptions rather than studies, at least that was what you could tell from the formatting of the sentence. ‘What people say they’re made of, but the absolute is unknown’. If a soul was filled with everything along the lines of love, hope, compassion, and many other emotions and feelings, then perhaps Flowey didn’t realize he did have a soul.

How else would he react in the ways that he did?

It wouldn’t make sense if he held fear, anger, hatred and so many negative emotions if soul’s themselves were the ones to contain them.

‘After all, humans have proven their SOULs don’t need these things to exist.’

The strange idea that, perhaps, Flowey held a human soul within him made you curious. But you pushed these thoughts away. You wondered about your own, suddenly concerned with the idea that not all human souls needed these feelings and emotions in order to exist. Was it only a human thing? Or was it also a monster thing?

“Injected with determination.” You mumbled, rubbing your chin and practically coating it in dust. You reminded yourself that Alphys(shudder) was the one that created Flowey, at least from his words she was. She injected DETERMINATION into him and brought him to life, without a soul(supposedly) which caused him to have a will to live and not die, but also do whatever it takes to survive in the process. Humans were also capable of this feat, every human had it… and if the book is true to their discovery of ‘after all, humans have proven their SOULs don’t need these things to exist’, like joy, happiness and contentment… that might mean that you yourself-

Self-diagnosis’ never exactly worked out for anyone, but you were getting rather worried as your mind wandered back to your dream. Trying to push back the thoughts, you thought positive. After all, you had feelings and plenty of them. You felt pain, heartache, excitement, and even compassion.

It would be a good idea to start moving, being left to your own thoughts was tiring.

The room felt like a heavyweight suddenly, a damp coat that had been tossed over your very being in a way to slow you down as you hurried you way out of the building and back to the fresh outdoors of the underground. The cool air that, before was too chilling, suddenly felt relaxing and it was very much appreciated. It wasn’t until you took in a deep breath that you started a coughing fit, the dust had somehow clung to you on your way out, causing you to inhale a lot into your lungs. Pounding your chest heavily, you only took one more step until you saw him.

There he was, Flowey the flower, in a rather tiny and pitiful patch of grass in front of an abandoned home. All he was doing was standing there, shivering, his petals had closed around his face as either a way to hide or a way to keep the cold out as best as he could.

The moment you saw him you felt rather sad at his appearance, wondering if there was even a way to help him keep from getting cold, let alone dying from freezing over. But you also thought of the baked goods he had given you that were, more or less, life saving. As you approached rather quietly, one of his petals slowly peeled away, his beady eyes peeking through the dark he had created to protect himself, and said eye seemed to glow.

“Flowey, you’re here.” You said with a smile, somewhat breathless and, rather surprised. Flowey didn’t fully peel away the rest of his petals, keeping his face hidden as his eye scanned you over. He scoffed, though his teeth chattered pretty audibly “Y-You look shitty… c-couldn’t survive even an hour or t-two without little ol’ m-me~?”

“Hard to tease me when you’re getting frostbite.” You kept your smile, and it caused the flower’s gaze to waver as he breathed out shakily “T-Tch. Whatever.”

“There has to be a way for you to not travel just in the earth, right?” You asked thoughtfully, tilting your head to try and get a better view of him. He slowly opened up his yellow petals, showing his rather red nose, or at least where it should be if he weren’t a flower. He looked almost like someone about to catch a cold. Flowey simply stared at you then, as if trying to figure out what language you were even speaking, before you carefully held out your arm. “Well, think you could use your vines to hang onto my arm?”

“I’m not going to f-fucking.... h-hang on your arm like… some…” He was probably about to sneeze, but he didn’t “Like some house plant…!”

“Flowey.” You kept your arm out “I admitted I wanted you to travel with me, and you said no even though you were sitting around Snowdin the entire time waiting for me, right?”

Dead on the mark, the rest of his face turned as pink as his nose.

“There’s nothing wrong with admitting that you enjoy my company.” You manage then, rolling your eyes a bit “I want you to help me, and I’m getting pretty lonely. And if you’re going to risk your own life for the sake of watching over me…” Technically stalking, but if you said that he’d probably flip shit. “Might as well… hang around.”

Okay, you smirked at the joke, and seeing his almost disgusted face meant that he got the joke too.

“You’re a horrible person.” He managed to murmur, though he slowly let a tendril emerge from the tiny bit of earth that wasn’t coated in snow. It was small and frail, shaking as much as he was, and once it touched your arm you could feel just how cold he really was. You instantly shivered as the vine wrapped around your arm, and weakly clung to you like a frail child afraid of the dark. He looked to you as if he were lost.

“So do I just… yank you out the ground?” You asked then, though not waiting as you pulled. Half of him was pulled from the earth, however he yelled out in protest “OW! Can you not?!”

“I don’t see any other way around this.”

“Well don’t tear me in fucking HALF you dimwit!”

“You got the vocabulary of an old man--”

“YOU’RE AN OLD MAN!”

You could feel the warmth returning to his plant body just from his temperature rising, nothing more warmth-bringing than getting someone hot and irritated. His tendril wrapped more firmly around you from your teasing, and slowly he managed to uproot himself just as you pulled to lift up. Now holding your arm out before you, there he was. Flowey had completely wrapped himself around your whole arm, but apparently he was having trouble balancing himself. You gave a small smile “Comfy?”

“Not at all, no.” He replied, squinting his eyes for a moment before his tendrils stretched and crawled over your shoulders, sliding himself up your arm and behind you, where he sat his body on the top of your backpack and held onto you by wrapping himself around your shoulders. Two vines performing similarly to the straps of your bag as he hooked his own plant-like arms around your shoulders to make sure he was secure, basically he looked like a leafy harness. “Better.”

This was a complete act of trust, you hoped he understood it as much as you ‘sort of’ did. The flower that was willing to crush and choke you yesterday was suddenly sitting on you. You were sure that he was good, everything he expressed had to have come from somewhere, he couldn’t be ‘soulless’...

And… you had feelings, too.

“Whose house is this anyway?” You asked as you glanced upward then to look it over. Why was Flowey sitting in front of this house in particular? Flowey seemed to turn his head to look it over as well “The skeleton brothers, Papyrus and Smiley Trashbag. This is where they used to live.”

He must have meant Sans--

Wait, why call him Smiley Trashbag?

You curiously headed for the door, however you were suddenly pulled back by the vines tightening around you, yanking you backward as Flowey complained “No, let’s just get out of here! Snowdin’s too cold!”

“But I want to see…” You explain, trying to push forward. You finally made it to the door, however now his vine had fully wrapped around your arm. “Flowey! Stop!”

“You let me use your body--” Flowey managed, through gritted teeth as the both of you fought for control “So now I say-- we get the hell out of here--!”

“I didn’t let you USE anything!” You blurted and forced yourself forward in one rough pull, finally he released his vines from your arm, and you practically barged into the front door with a loud slam. The door swung back, opening itself as you two stumbled inside. Flowey clung onto you for dear life while you fell forward onto the cold and rather damp carpeted floor. Your leg already hurt, so the fall onto your hands and knees didn’t help. Wincing, you breathed out, your breath came and went like smoke as you mumbled “Listen Flowey, if this is gonna work out, we have to work together, alright? You can’t just try and control what I do. This is only until we find warmer ground for you.”

“Says the puppet to the master.” Flowey breathed out as well, his own breath appeared right at the corner of your eye, out of your vision but still there to remind you he was hovering right at your shoulder. You smirked “You’re so close I could almost kiss you again.”

“Try it and I’ll bite off your tongue.” He quickly stretched himself a bit away from you, and it only made you tease more “Wow Flowey, no one mentioned there’d be tongue involved… what type of kissing are you thinking?”

Flowey breathed out heavily in annoyance “I’ve never been so done with someone in my entire existence of being.”

You only laughed lightly in response as you looked around the rather full residence. While the skeleton brothers were on the surface now, they apparently left almost everything behind. The television was still there, furniture and things, and even socks and post its were lying around. The only thing that looked to be missing was a small shadowed shape on the carpeting before the tv, that made it look as if a couch had once been sitting there.

“They left so much stuff.” You commented calmly, walking into the kitchen to note that even there they had left all their cooking supplies and things, though scattered about as if ransacked. Thinking about how Flowey can cook and bake, you wondered if Flowey had perhaps searched through Papyrus’ things to use for himself.

“Well, they probably didn’t need anything.” Flowey shrugged as you wandered the kitchen, and you were surprised at this “Huh? But this stuff looks crazy expensive… that big screen tv? I mean, I don’t know how stuff works down here but maybe it was built and--”

“When you’re stuck underground for a long while, you kind of get detached to materialistic things.” Flowey commented, all the while you left the kitchen and headed for the small set of stairs that aimed upward. Trying the first door that was covered in ‘WARNING’ and ‘DO NOT ENTER’ signs, you opened it with ease and noted that it was full with a bed, table, computer, and even a few collectable figurines. Flowey continued “Maybe all that they needed was each other.”

You paused, looking over your shoulder at him, though Flowey was looking around the room as well as he continued once more “Sometimes after being alive and in total shit for so long, you only have what you came with. Sometimes family is all you got to count on, and if you don’t have that… then you have nothing.”

What was Flowey’s story… was it similar to your own?

The moment you believed in something that they didn’t want you to, you were abandoned and forgotten. But what about Flowey?

“What was your family like, Flowey?” You tried to ask softly, noting his curiousness in looking around the room, you decided to seat yourself on the car shaped bed so that he could keep looking around. He was quiet at first, before he sighed “I guess they would’ve been great, if I had actually cared about them. But like I said, it’s hard to care when you have no feelings.”

You didn’t want to bring up that sort of conversation again, and in the end the both of you were feeling uncomfortable about the family subject. “Right.” You replied lightly, and once Flowey looked to you as if a confirmation he was done, you stood back up from the bed and left back into the hall, shutting the door behind you.

“That was Papyrus’ bedroom.” Flowey said quickly, changing the subject(thank god) “He usually described his room to me since I refused to just ‘hang out’ in Snowdin, I tried once in his backyard, while he talked from his window… but I told him it was shitty and I’d never come by again. So we found better hang out spots.”

“Did you two hang out often?” You asked this while heading down the hall, to the more plainer looking door that, you jiggled the handle and found, was locked.

“Not really.” Flowey murmured, though he scoffed “Well, he would find me somehow. Even on days I just wanted to be alone. Papyrus is so naive and dumb that--” He then clicked his tongue as if hating to admit “Ugh, I guess his… this ‘friendship’ of ours is genuine, I trust him, I’ve never doubted him. Which is funny considering he also felt the same way with me but doesn’t realize that...” His words had trailed off, though from what you recall him mentioning in the interview, he’s killed before. It was rather easy to connect the dots. And the idea of resets and timelines that, even though you barely understood, you wondered if this had anything to do with Flowey having the ability to do something and just reset the world as if it never happened. Like a game. Kill someone and then restart like it meant nothing.

How many times did he kill Papyrus?

Your heart somewhat ached at this, it was a two way street kind of tale, Flowey probably didn’t trust him at first and always found a reason for him to die. He even said that Papyrus had (somehow) been a five star chef in another ‘timeline’, so had he seen Papyrus make it out to the surface in another life of his? Even for Papyrus it felt heart-wrenching, how would he feel knowing that whom he considered a close friend of his had killed him plenty of times before the two became close like this? Like writing love letters to a man who you never knew killed your family-- or something just as twisted. But you were trying to not let your dark thoughts consume you. You swallowed the lump in your throat. Flowey seemed to note your sudden mood change, but before he could say something else you tried to hold down your fear as you managed a bit of flattery “You know… for a tough and mean acting flower, you sure are a sweetheart.”

The vines around your shoulders and chest tightened, but it was a gentle sort of tight, more of a hugging manner as he sighed almost heavily “Can we just go now? It’s cold and I hate it here.”

“For someone who can’t ‘feel’ anything you seem to find hate and anger easier to understand.”

“I at least know what it’s like to know when I hate something.”

You eyed him thoughtfully “You know, hate can be as strong of a feeling as love and longing. So strong and similar that the two can be mixed up or even combined.” You whistled “Wouldn’t it be funny if you found out that all this time whenever you were thinking you ‘hated’ something, you actually loved it?”

Flowey yelled out in protest “Why are dumbasses given the ability to talk?! They should have their tongues melted and their lips sewn shut! Can we just get the hell out of here?!”

“Fine fine~” You said with a little laugh, slowly heading back down the steps and to the front door. Once you exited the house, you shut it behind you before reminding yourself of something.

“Oh, also…” You manage lightly, the cold air returning to your skin to make you somewhat shiver. However, Flowey’s lukewarm vines seemed to make it all the more better for you to handle. “I found some pie and cookies in my bag.”

“So what?” Flowey retorted rather quickly, as you turned your head to look at him he looked at you all the same. You only smiled “Flowey, they were delicious. I still got the pie in my bag and a cookie left, if you wanna share?”

“I don’t need to share.” Flowey squinted his beady eyes, lowering them then “I’m a plant who doesn’t need to eat regular shit like everyone else. And anyway, I can make more for myself. I only got you some ‘cause you’re accident prone as shit and I knew you’d probably die without my help.” He used a vine to stretch down and lightly touch your injured leg, causing you to flinch as he scoffed “See? Not even a whole day on your own and you managed to once again hurt yourself.”

“What would I do without you, Flowey?” You practically sang teasingly, batting your eyelashes towards him and causing his face to heat up. The petals that haloed around his head seemed to curl more closed, as if to hide himself, however before he could fully shut himself in, you leaned in to quickly kiss his forehead, and he simply shut his eyes tightly as you did so. Pulling away just as fast, you left him almost breathless as he practically complained through mouthing out words instead of actually using his voice.

“How do I get out of here then, Flowey?” You asked softly, trying to return to focusing on moving forward. Almost shakily he held up a leaf that pointed to your left, and so you turned and walked through the snow in the direction he gave.

“Thanks~”

Notes:

>And Flowey is the only Undertale precious that has a nickname from me (Flowjo) other than Napstablook(Nappyboy) don't hate.

Notes:

Chapter Text

Chapter Eight: He Gave You A Reason

Perhaps the cold combined with the sudden humidity you were approaching was the cause of such heavy fog suddenly circulating you. As you went down the path that exited Snowdin, it started to get warmer, and with such warmth the fog rose and surrounded both you and Flowey. Eventually you could barely see anything ahead of you, but as if reading your mind, Flowey simply instructed you to walk in a straight line and to not deter or wander. He clung to you tightly, which at first was comforting in the colder climates with the snow, but as it got warmer and more humidity arose, you were getting uncomfortable and feeling sort of sticky.

By the time the fog and mist cleared away and you were able to see again, it was like you had teleported to another new dimension. The earth was plush, the air damp, and the smell of fresh water(or was that mildew?) filled the whole area. There was a faint and distant cold breeze coming from behind you, a reminder of what you had left for the sake of pushing forward.

“This is Waterfall.” Flowey introduced it easily, slowly unravelling from around you and allowing himself to fall against the earth. However as soon as he did this, his roots quickly sank into the dirt, and he did the same wriggling like someone who was getting comfortable in a recliner. A part of you felt relief, but a part of you also was concerned that you couldn’t keep an eye on him anymore. Now he was able to roam about freely, like before, and pop in and out at his own leisure. You did hope he took your idea to heart, about the two of you staying close so that he could guide you. And of course, after having injured your leg, and the warm climate forcing you to feel it again, you really did need someone to look out for you incase you had yet another accident.

As you started to go further down and away from the cool current of air wafting behind you, you found yourself walking beside two waterfalls, and made a note that the name of some of these locations were rather-- blunt.

Snowdin sounded similar to being snowed in.

And Waterfall must have been for the sake of there being a lot of waterfalls in the area.

You decided you would whip out your journal as you carefully kept going, Flowey leading rather fluently now that he was back in the earth. He would sink himself quick into the ground, only to pop up again a few feet ahead, and before you could reach him, he would repeat the pattern. All the way up until the two of you reached a similar looking sentry station that you had seen at the beginning of Snowdin. You made your way to it, practically limping as you rested your journal on the flat surface to finish writing your thoughts.

“Your legs pretty bad huh?” Flowey commented your way, popping up right beside the station you leaned yourself heavily against, and right next to a blue almost glowing flower. In a sense, the flower looked rather similar to Flowey’s design, however it appeared to be thicker and more adapted to the elements of Waterfall, its stem almost as thick as a small tree, and the petals large enough to probably make a really nice looking sun-hat.

“Well it’s not good…” You mutter, finally shutting your journal and putting your pen and paper away once you had finished with your notes. “The first bridge on my way to Snowdin collapsed, I fell through-- well, only one leg fell through. I was forced to get flexible in order to get out of that ordeal.”

Flowey snorted a tiny laugh “What would you do without me?” he asked rather coyly, batting his eyes as innocently as he could. You grinned somewhat meekly, but before you could say something clever back(something rather flirtatious), suddenly you were cut off by his voice again.

“What would you do without me?”

Noting that he hadn’t moved his lips, though you stared at him dumbfounded, he gave you a confused look. “What?” It became apparent that it definitely wasn’t him speaking, so as you looked around quickly to figure out where the second Flowey voice came from, he suddenly gasped, realizing your confusion. “Oh, it’s an echo flower.” He turned his head quickly towards the blue flower that stood beside him, his petals swayed with his motions as the leaf he used as an arm pointed towards it “If you speak too close to it, it repeats everything you say.”

You whipped out your journal again. “That’s crazy awesome.” You commented, approaching it quickly to look it over while you took notes.

“That’s crazy awesome.” It replied.

“And sometimes annoying.” Flowey grunted, and in turn it commented back just as grudgingly “And sometimes annoying.”

You figured it would be best to be silent as you scribbled and wrote, even doing a rather simple sketch of the flower. All the flower did was repeat the scribbling noises of the pen on paper, before you finally placed your journal away once again. You looked to Flowey with a small nod, and he simply returned a faint noise before sinking into the earth, leading the way further down and escaping the echo flower’s ear.

The sounds of rushing water filled the entire cavern, mist covered your body and made your clothes just as damp as the wet dirt beneath your boots. The sound grew louder soon enough, and eventually the bright golden flower boy poked his head out across the way from a waterfall crossing, the water that poured down seemed to transport and carry a variety of rocks and debris with it, small and large bunches of either greenery, trash and old belongings, or boulders. Everything seemed to move so fast, and there was no way around it other than going right through. You hoped it wasn’t deep.

“Just try not to get hit by anything.” Flowey had raised his voice for you to hear him on the other side of the rushing waters. You felt completely worn out, but you knew you had to keep going. Your DETERMINATION wouldn’t let you falter as you nodded towards the flower and stepped into the water just as fast as you could react. It reached your hips before you felt the ground, feeling a bit more confident as you did your best to hurry across, all while maneuvering to avoid being smacked by a rock and sent plummeting further down the waterfall. Even this water, that was carrying trash, smelled fresh and clean. Your mouth was getting dry, but you didn’t want to drink the water no matter how clean it was. After all, clean or not you refused to sip the same water that would also carry a large garbage can lid down the stream.

Finally making it across, your pants were soaked and boots filled with water. Trying to shake it off as if you were a dog, Flowey didn’t seem to mind the spray you let flick onto him. He didn’t even flinch when a few beads had landed on his face, simply staring at you as he smirked and commented smugly “Nice swim, huh?”

“Shut up.” You murmured quickly, sighing tiredly as the two of you continued on. There was less talking now, but that was only because Flowey didn’t seem to be much of a chatterbox. You hadn’t realized it until now, but you were usually the one that sparked conversation, or at least triggered Flowey to say something depending on your reactions to something else. But with being tired, sore, and now limping like an injured animal, you really weren’t in the mood for conversation. If Flowey wanted to say something, you would reply, but that would probably be it.

Good thing he had nothing to say.

The walls were speckled with tiny glimmering gems, and they coated the roof of the area almost like stars. They glimmered as if they glowed naturally and on their own, illuminating the dark without the need of actual sunlight or even lanterns and torches. By the time you reached an almost too narrow corridor of the cavern, your eyes gazed over the hall covered in echo flowers and gems, all of the flowers swaying in a nonexistent breeze, but all of them completely silent.

There was a telescope at the middle of the hall, however that was all you took notice of besides the cyan colored plants that grew every which way. Some were in the earth, others slightly sprouting from the walls as well. Flowey popped up right beside one near the center of the room, talking to it rather quickly and finishing by the time you had caught up to him. The flower spoke up with pride, Flowey’s voice mimicked perfectly “Wow, this human sure is an idiot!”

You twisted your face in bemusement, and all Flowey did was cackle as you limped your way over to another flower and whisper to it.

It replied just as loudly as the other had, however in your words “I don’t think Flowey realizes I can stomp them to kingdom come.”

Though as you laughed at your own response, Flowey suddenly appeared all the way at the end of the hall with a smile of curiousness, almost singing a little melody as the echo flower repeated his tune “Oh right, with which leg? The ugly one or the broken and ugly one~”

“Who needs legs with guns like these?” As if on cue he looked up from the flower he was at just to watch you flex in a goofy fashion. Even your poor taste in jokes were enough to almost get a smile on Flowey’s face-- almost.

“All I see are limp noodles.”

“So if a flower is sad do the other flowers just PHOTOSYMPATHIZE with it?”

“Your puns are as terrible as your looks!”

“Chin up friend I beLEAF in you~!”

Flowey’s next sentence seemed rather quick, it looked like you were winning. “Poor human’s so dead on the inside~”

And you released your final blow. “You’d know my insides considering you mouth fucked them.”

“HEY!” Flowey blurted quickly, suddenly flustered from the last echo flower that repeated your words. You smiled almost too proudly as the other flowers now chanted his yell throughout the room in cheers of “HEY! HEY! HEY!”

“And to the victor go the spoils~!” You cheered for yourself quietly, clapping gently before patting your back. Only a few flowers heard the clapping, resulting in you getting a light amount of applause.

“There are no spoils, dumbass.” Flowey simply grunted, his face flushed and his lip in a pout as he mumbled “I’ll be right back, don’t wander off on your own and kill yourself just yet. Stay here.” The demand was quick, and before you could protest he sank into the earth, and this time he didn’t reappear near another flower.

The flowers repeated his words like a scattered choir, and you immediately knew you wanted to keep moving forward. A part of you really needed some rest, but another part of you felt it wasn’t such a good idea to rest in such a damp and humid place. Looking around, you spotted a small archway and headed for it, ducking through quickly and tiredly, making your way as you followed the sound of more rushing water in the distance. It almost felt like a maze. The last thing you wanted to do was get lost while ditching Flowey, you did your best to remember where you were going incase you needed to hurry back or call for some sort of help. At this point, you felt that Flowey was a little(more or less) trustworthy.

You found yourself eventually at an even darker part of the glowing waterfall caverns, the gems flickered and twinkled all over the walls and ceiling, and the earth beneath your feet had turned just as dark as everything else, though thankfully was illuminated by the gemstones. As you started to hear the rushing water noises grow closer, you eventually managed to enter deeper into the dark, finding that the rushing water was actually glowing, lighting the room in a bright and magical blue light. The path was thin, possibly having fallen apart from being soaked in said waters for years without being maintained, so you made your way carefully as you explored the area. You kept moving, trying not to stop even as you saw more echo flowers to play with, and soon enough you found a large enough spot to set your things down and take a break.

Surrounded by a blue glow, the glistening ceiling and the calming sounds around you, you practically forgot how uncomfortable and damp your clothes were. Your body was relaxing all too much as you closed your eyes for just a moment. Focusing on your breathing, on the sounds of the gentle waters that almost sounded like waves crashing along a shoreline. You were finding peace.

In that moment however, you heard a faint noise.

A faint voice, even.

“Flowey… I know this is hard for you. It’ll be even harder to hear this after you change back. Trust me I know.”

It sounded like someone new, or at least someone who wasn’t you or Flowey. You almost quickly opened your eyes and turned your head in the direction of the voice, a part of you hoping it was another monster that perhaps had just been hiding from Flowey. However all you spotted was an echo flower, swaying not too far from your post. You carefully crawled over towards it on your hands and knees, grunting only slightly from your injured leg being dragged across the blackened mud below you, and doing your best not to say anything as the voice became better to hear. It was soft, gentle, almost child-like as it continued.

“I know what it’s like to feel lost, alone, like no one could ever understand you. But I also know what it’s like to feel love, and not want to live in a world without it. It’s hard to keep going on, but because of how our lives had changed, it’s hard to count on someone to show us love too.”

“Flowey, I may never get to talk to you face to face, we’re the same person and yet we’re completely different and our own selves. Maybe you’ll hate my voice, maybe you’ll hate the thought of Frisk thinking you’re me… but it’s up to you to make a name for yourself.”

“You are your own person. I’ll always be with you, whether you believe that everyone can be good… even the worst of people… I’ll be here supporting you, every moment of every day.”

“But you’re loved by everyone on the surface, whether they know who you are or not, you’re a hero.”

“You know what love feels like, you know what happiness is, what contentment is, sorrow, anger, hatred… don’t believe you have no feelings for a moment because the truth is, you have plenty.”

“And even if it takes forever, I hope someone can prove that to you. Please don’t hate me, Flowey...”

“Love, your best friend.”

“Asriel Dreemurr.”

There was a soft sound of a smooch, before you pulled away as the words repeated themselves as softly as they must have been whispered to.

What did this all mean? Well, you slowly pieced together what you recalled Flowey mentioning. Then again even if you had once doubted the flower’s words and considered him a liar, this all proved his words true. Asriel was Flowey. Asriel was Toriel and Asgore’s son (Duh, that last name rang more than just a few bells)... who was killed as Flowey had said. Asriel escaped the underground just to come back and die, and then Alphys had turned him into a flower to live on… only for him to be tortured with the inability to feel things. But that couldn’t have been true now, now Flowey knew what feelings were, he could feel them, he showed them rather often. He cried, he yelled out of anger, he blushed from frustration… Even Asriel told Flowey that he had feelings, so he had to have believed himself, right?

You sighed softly as you fully pulled away, the words that repeated through your ears were stuck in your head as Asriel continued to speak gently through the body of an echo flower. You wondered how many times Flowey wandered all the way to Waterfall just to listen to Asriel. Did he hate him? Did he love him?

Was he missed?

You gathered your things and moved on, as quietly as possible. Of course you were hoping to find another secret flower that would tell you more things about Flowey. The echo flowers were mostly silent however, and soon enough you reached the end of the brightly lit cavern of glowing water. There was one echo flower that sat there, a child like voice escaping it. It sounded somewhat familiar as you approached and knelt yourself down. The voice was all too familiar, your ears strained to hear their words through the soft tears.

You did your best to contain yourself, almost immediately turning away to fully face the stream of glowing water, to wash your face in the beautiful waters in an attempt to mask your tears. The recording once again started back up, looping through a child’s sorrowful speech about leaving Flowey behind for the sake of everyone else. A huge sacrifice... your heart was aching, you wished there was something you could do to have changed all this.

“I’m so sorry… Flowey… Asriel… I’m so sorry!”

Flowey was hurting because of all this, he knew he had to stay put, but it was still years and years of torture. He was alone, forced into solitary confinement, and that was the gratitude he received for saving a whole community of monsters? Life was unfair...

The last time you felt this horrible was when your friend never came back again, and was reported missing.

“...Stay determined…”

Trying to escape the room, you made your way through and out of the glowing lights, returning to another small hallway that only grew darker as you left the light behind. The sounds of the many waterfalls vanished as you limped, and eventually you fell to your knees and sighed out shakily.

Life was so unfair…

You laughed a bit to yourself, blinking away the tears that returned, but lifting your hand to lightly wipe at the wetness that covered your face. Your felt hot, and you sniffed lightly before swallowing down the lump in your throat that kept you from speaking. Not like there was anyone left to speak to, you ditched Flowey a few minutes ago, and were now definitely regretting it. You were ready to drown the flower in kisses when you lifted your head to spot an echo flower, swaying not far from where you knelt. It’s like it waved to you, and you lifted back up to wander over, sitting beside it to rest. You were prepared to leave your own little message, however as soon as you had approached, it started to speak to you, in Flowey’s voice, though more calm and gentle than his usual rash and angered tone.

“I have to accept all my actions now. There are no more resets. I can’t do things over… I can’t die and then come back… this is it, this is the end.”

“Flowey whenever you doubt yourself listen to this and just know that… no matter what you might think, you were once a good person.”

“It’s better to say this now while you can feel everything… before you go numb.”

You breathed out softly “There is no ‘once was’... there is only now. You are a good person. Flowey you are beautiful, you’re a hero, admirable, you’re kind, and even if you think you can’t feel anything at all, I know deep down you can feel everything and that’s what hurts the most. Because if you couldn’t feel, then why else would--”

You heard a noise not far from where you were, and it caused you to hesitate, before you simply continued “You’re sweet, and you don’t need to act tough. Be yourself, always, never be afraid to be you.”

“You’re wrong.”

Flowey’s voice suddenly appeared right beside you, though he whispered almost weakly, as if his breath had been punched out of him. His petals drooped like his head, refusing to look you in the eyes. “No soul equals no feelings, idiot.”

You open your mouth to protest, before he whispered harshly and cut you off(in an ironic fashion as he added) “I cut your rope, human. I saw you, from waaaaaay up above… climbing your way down with that annoying flashlight in your mouth, and I knew what I was going to do to you before I even met you.” He snickered almost coldly, his face shifting, distorting, turning into a horror you haven’t even seen before. Your heart kept aching for him emotionally, but you did your best to not cringe even a tiny bit at the sight that remained only a few inches from your body. Flowey’s lips almost look peeled back as he cackled under his breath, his voice suddenly different from his usual tone; deep, dry, withered “It was all the more fun getting to watch you cry from the pain… As I watched you I thought ‘What a dumbass! Wandering down here in the fucking dark!”

“But you helped me.” You simply interrupted, his deformed face quickly staring right at you. You felt no fear(or at least tried not to) “You helped me--”

“Because you made too much noise--”

“Because you cared.” You corrected him, squinting your eyes before narrowing them to focus on something else. His face was changing back to normal, but that wasn’t the reason for looking away. Even after all you had heard, all he knew you probably heard, he still was pretending to not feel a thing. “You’re doing all this for the sake of the people on the surface, and if it were true that you felt nothing, that you wanted me to die, then I would be dead already. I heard what those flowers left behind for you, Flowey...”

“Well if that were true then you--” You froze, realizing what he had said and stopping your speech. You were prepared to go back and forth on an argument about him claiming to want to kill you, but he agreed rather quickly. “Oh…”

“I had no intentions of killing you, I just… have to protect myself, this is the final timeline and I can’t just change things if I don’t like their outcome.” He defended himself meekly, returning to keeping his face hidden from you “...I already regret enough, the last thing I need is to regret more that I can’t fix.” He looked over his shoulder towards you as you continued staring at him. “There are no resets, idiot. I can’t just risk doing whatever the hell I want to let my curious mind wander. I don’t get any more second chances. Whatever happens now is permanent.”

There it was again… resets. Resets, saves, timelines. But you couldn’t compare it to time travel because earlier on he had explained it wasn’t as simple as that. You swallowed back your thoughts… and then you swallowed again, your mouth all too dry once more, and he finally faced you. Your eyes met with his own, and his intimate facade fell too quickly as a smug look crossed his features “Tch. What a crybaby. Have you been crying?”

You hadn’t realized it, the thought slipped your mind as you quickly lifted one finger to poke under your left eye. A stray tear had slid down your cheek, and you could only imagine that your eyes were red and puffy to give Flowey an obvious signal that you had been. “I’m not.” You stammered and lied, lifting your hand fully then to wipe your face and eyes. You gave a rather small smile at him though, and he blinked as his eyes widened. “What?”

“You’re amazing.” You give a gentle laugh, and slowly lean forward. You tried your best not to notice that Flowey had closed his eyes almost in preparation, and you simply gave him a gentle hug. He let out a small noise of surprise from your action, probably confused between why you gave him a hug instead of a kiss, and why he was receiving one to begin with. You then let go, only to pull back and see Flowey’s vines had sprouted from the earth, on either side of him, held up stiffly as if he were a burglar getting caught in a crime. Perhaps if you had hugged him longer, he would have hugged back.

“What was that…?” He questioned, the tendrils slinking back into the dirt. You smiled innocently “What I want to know is what was all that.” Your smile seemed to cause Flowey to quickly vanish into the earth, only to appear ahead as if implying he was ready to keep going “What do you mean?!”

“You closed your eyes~” You cooed as you prepared yourself, getting back to your feet and limping after him “You puckered your lips~ I could’ve sworn you were expecting something else--”

“I’m not sure I like your attitude, human.”

You snorted “But I like yours, flower.” Things were back to normal.

As you carried on and walked to keep up, you would spot an echo flower, silent and waiting for a voice. It was time to fill the underground with voices. Each one you passed wound up inviting you to give them random words.

“Lovely day today, Flowey.”

“G’day to you, sir!”

“Wow what a beautiful place!”

“All hail the toughest flower-lord~”

“Flowey’s really precious…”

“If you don’t stop I’m going to make you choke on all those words.” Flowey hissed at you across the way, simply staring at you as the flowers echoed. You had done your best to do different sentences and voices, and it now sounded like the underground was bustling with conversation. You hummed “I’ve done nothing wrong~!” Intentionally saying this right next to another flower, that started to repeat the words melodically.

Flowey rolled his eyes, disappearing again and reappearing at the end.

You chuckled as you followed still, taking your time to reach him due to your leg, but also looking back behind you with each careful step you took. Returning your gaze forward for a moment, you saw him leaned close to an echo flower, but as soon as you were close enough, he sank into the dirt to disappear ahead.

“I’m sorry.”

“I’m doing my best… I’m sorry, okay?”

“This is bliss.”

Notes:

> Okay I'm stuck at 38 kudos and I'm gonna do that bitch thing and tell the few fans who actually like this fic

> I'mma need yall to get this up to 40 before I post the next chapter(which IS ready btw)> yes im a whore

Chapter Text

Chapter Nine: You Struggled to Grasp It

There were two rather droopy looking houses that the two of you passed by, however you took no interest in exploring it. The green and pink houses remained untouched as you carried along, your feet were too sore to even think of anything else, and your injured leg pulsed like a heartbeat, fatigue was starting to take its toll.

The conversations had died down as well due to tiredness. Flowey probably spoke a thing or two to you in an attempt to keep the chatting alive, but you either simply grunted responses back or didn’t say anything at all; which lead to another awkward pause of silence. Not that your hazy mind cared of course… eventually you had given up and chose to find a nice spot to nap. Not letting Flowey know that those were your intentions, by the time you reached a room with one solid path and deep seas of water, you were ready to find a wall to lean against.

“Onion-San used to swim around here.” Flowey commented, as if he were an actual guide and giving you a tour of a museum. “Probably either swimming around in the sea’s on the surface, or in an aquarium. God, he smelled awful.”

“Flowey…” You mumbled his name, and he looked to you, waiting for whatever you were trying to say. Which, you found out you had nothing to actually say, and you instead went down the path between the two pools of water and aimed for the wall. You were practically dragging yourself from how hurt your leg was. The environment was so humid and sticky your body wasn’t handling it all too well. You needed rest.

As soon as you reached the wall, you turned around and pressed your back heavily against it, sliding down to the ground.

“What are you doing?” Flowey popped up beside you immediately, and you muttered “My legs hurt, my scratched leg hurts… I think there’s still splinters in it.”

“So?” Flowey sounded displeased. He used his tiny leaves to wrap around your arm in an attempt to tug you back up “Come on, let’s keep going! The sooner we get to Alphys’ lab the better!”

You shuddered at her name.

“Flowey,” You began again in a faint breath, the spot you were in, after shifting and adjusting yourself, started getting far too comfortable. You carefully peeled yourself from the wall, and in turn you pulled off your backpack and jacket. Folding your jacket up to use as a makeshift pillow, you slowly laid yourself down against the damp earth, curling your legs up to let your knees rest a few inches from your chest. As your head relaxed on your folded jacket, you hugged the backpack tight. “I can’t go on right now… Please let me rest.”

“Tch.” He grunted, simply staring at you as your eyes grew heavier. Eventually his whole body was nothing more than a blurred image, yellow and green blobs fusing together. The blob continued “You think you’re sweaty now, you’ll just wake up sweaty later sleeping here.”

You sighed softly, slumping a bit at your desk as the day continued. Nothing useful, all studies you already heard of. Monsters, myth or truth? Archaeological findings indicated that they may have roamed the Earth with humans many years ago.

All studies you already heard of.

You sat at the center of the room, your friends desk decorated in deep blue floral patterns and stickers. A pair of her favorite ballet shoes she had let you borrowed, that you figured was best to now give back. You had placed them on top of her desk, and everyone else placed candles and small things as a sign of love.

However, you were the center of an empty halo. All the desks surrounding you were empty, all the students sat away from you.

“Sweetheart you don’t know what you’re talking about, you’re traumatized.” Your mother’s face pierced your soul, your determination dwindled and flickered like a dying candlelight “You lost your friend and I know it hurts but it’s not because of monsters, of all things, they aren’t real.”

“You are smarter than this!” Your fathers voice yelled, suddenly kneeling to be at eye level, only to pierce your eyes with needles. You could feel them bleeding, the blood pouring down your cheeks as he gauged at them with his own stare. Like knives, like weapons, like hate. His claws sank into your shoulders, a wicked grin distorting his lips

You didn’t want to lose them, you took on the selfless act of loneliness. At least, you thought it was selfless.

“I just don’t want to be hurt again. I’m tired of being alone… so tired.” You whimpered to no one in particular.

They all looked the same to you then. All the possibilities and reasons of why they would leave flooded your head. There were no other friends out there for you, she was the first and would be the last and only

It’s not that you hated humanity…

You just couldn’t trust it.

You sat at lunch alone, a whole table to yourself, your books and writings.

You stayed inside the house, hidden in your bedroom. You had to hide everything so your parents wouldn’t trash it.

Focused on homework, and chores. Work. You had to work.

Does it still bother you? Even after all these years? Does it bother you that monsters do exist and your friend is still missing with many other children?

Did they kill her?

With a heavy sigh, your cell phone rang, and you gently lifted it to your ear. You sat in your office, your desk completely empty of work to do. There was nothing for you to do. “Hello?”

“I thought she was one of them.” Frisk said. They never went to your school, but they went missing for a whole month before appearing again with all the monsters. “I thought she was one of them and I̷̮̤̫̱͔̭ ̸̨͎͓͎̦ͅk̶̢̟̖̪̮͜i̵̘͚̙͙̺̳l̶̘͕͕̥̦̳l̷̡̤̣͙̰͖e̶̥̲͈̗͙̱ḑ̶̡̢̻̘̺ ̶̳͎̟͎̳ͅh̷̬̝͕̦̻ͅe̸̜̞̘̗̫̲r̸̢̢͓͓̖̗.̶̣̪̳̟̼͈”

“I thought she was going to hurt me.” Flowey said. Flowey was all alone down there and couldn’t risk being killed. “I thought she was going to hurt me and I̷̮̤̫̱͔̭ ̸̨͎͓͎̦ͅk̶̢̟̖̪̮͜i̵̘͚̙͙̺̳l̶̘͕͕̥̦̳l̷̡̤̣͙̰͖e̶̥̲͈̗͙̱ḑ̶̡̢̻̘̺ ̶̳͎̟͎̳ͅh̷̬̝͕̦̻ͅe̸̜̞̘̗̫̲r̸̢̢͓͓̖̗.̶̣̪̳̟̼͈”

Their voices rang in tune with each other like a horrifying choir “You let her walk alone, though. Actually, I think you killed her.”

The dialtone drummed in your ears, and you hung up the phone.

“Being alone is better… I can’t risk it.” You breathed out tiredly. “I haven’t gotten over her, after all these years… what makes you think I can handle new friends?”

“Hypocrite.” Flowey snapped, his face scrunched like he ate something sour or smelled something foul. His eyes caved in, his pupils dilated and glowing with a bright, white magic. He practically groaned as his stem raised him higher, looming over you “H Y P O C R I T E .”

Flowey’s voice cackled, his laughter cracked, he was howling like a maniac. Suddenly his face changed, his menacing smile plastered but his eyes and other features morphed to look exactly like you. His voice wavered, but then he mimicked exactly how you sounded.

You wanted to speak, but suddenly you found a vine pushing its way into your mouth. Your eyes welled up with tears, pleadingly looking up to the giant Flowey that only continued to mock and berate you.

Sighing out shakily, you suddenly find yourself frozen and unable to move your body. Looking around, at the corner of your eye you see Flowey. A small vine held up something over head, but soon you realized your entire body was wrapped up in vines and leaves.

Grunting, this time more audibly to be heard, suddenly Flowey’s vines retract themselves, only the (now obvious) umbrella remained lifted over the two of you.

“Thanks…” You said softly, carefully sitting up as you tried to shake your head to get rid of the sleepy groggy feeling that remained. Like the other times you went to bed, you woke up so refreshed that your body was fully healed again, as if your leg had never kicked its way through a bridge. Flowey suddenly shoved the umbrella against you, and you struggled to hold it as he mumbled “Yeah, you’re welcome.”

The two of you were quiet then for a moment, which you definitely didn’t mind. Your head was pounding and you were trying to get more awake. It was always the first five minutes of waking up that you found yourself still confused and in a dream-like state. Your brain was processing the real world, and your dream(or nightmare) was slowly vanishing like it had never happened.

“You were…” Flowey started, gaining your attention as you looked his way. And in time with you looking to him, he looked elsewhere “You were restless… but I didn’t care to wake you up.”

“...thanks.” You thanked him again, even though you remembered at least wanting some sort of escape from the dream. You knew he was in it, but there were others as well. Your head was pounding suddenly. You adjusted the umbrella in your hands, gripping onto the base tightly as if any moment you could let go. You didn’t remember it drizzling, but tiny water droplets fell and created a soft rhythm against the umbrella’s stretched and lanky canopy. Looking down, you knew that your leg had healed, but you at least expected the scars to remain. Surprisingly enough, it was completely gone.

You looked to him, finally your sleepy haze fell away, and your eyes could focus. The gears in your brain started to turn “You have healing magic?”

“Did you really think you would fall underground and suddenly sprout magic abilities? ” Flowey snorted, rolling his beady eyes as he brushed a vine over your leg. Your pants were torn, but at least your leg wasn’t anymore. “I figured while you’re sleeping I could heal your leg. Maybe now you don’t have to limp around like some overweight beast.”

“Gee, Flowey.” You wrinkled your nose at him “I didn’t know you cared. Did you heal me last time then?”

His whole head turned away from you, showing you the back of his petals “Tch. Duh. ”

So Flowey had found a way into the bedroom to not only tuck you in and give you pie, but he healed you.

You remembered a comforting embrace in that dream…

“To be honest…” He distracted you from your own thoughts with his suddenly gentle tone, though he kept facing away “I’ve never felt this… relaxed? I guess. I haven’t been this calm around someone since…”

His soft words had trailed off then, Flowey suddenly sank into the wet dirt, vanishing for a moment before, as he had been doing for hours now, popping up further down; a signal that he was ready to move on.

Were you?

“Let’s just get going!” He called back to you. You slowly lifted to your feet and decided to wrap your coat around your waist this time. Rolling up your pant legs to transform them into shorts, and then rolling up your sleeves before slipping your bag onto your back with a grunt.

Flowey had admitted he felt suddenly calm and relaxed around you, but the last time he felt this way he wouldn’t say. It made you curious and wondering what he was about to say. But suddenly a wave of wonder and concern washed over you, it was so sudden that your face couldn’t hide how you were feeling, leaving you in a small frown as you slowly walked to follow Flowey’s lead.

Flowey had opened up to you back when you two first met at his home, and then when he asked for your story you told him absolutely nothing. You didn’t lie at the time, you truly thought you had no great story to tell… though even Flowey then had picked up that you weren’t being fully honest, and simply assumed someone else had sent you down to do something to him. You spent a whole day in the ruins, according to Flowey, at least. And it was a full day to get to know Flowey before you left through Snowdin and now with him in Waterfall. You two spent countless amounts of hours together and you had nothing to show for it, you knew plenty about Flowey, but he knew nothing about you… and you were starting to feel crappy for it.

Flowey almost sank into the ground to continue but you quickly spoke up “Flowey, wait.”

He had curled up, preparing himself to sink into the Earth, and he froze in place other than turning his head to look your way “What?”

“I have to admit something.” You mumbled, making it right next to him then. You held the umbrella over the two of you, the light drizzle that leaked from the distant ceiling of the cavern continued to patter gently against the object in your hand “You asked me… back at your place… if I had a story of my own? Why I’m down here and what not, remember?”

He continued to stare at you, his expression somewhat mellow, and you suddenly looked away “I guess you were right, I wasn’t entirely being honest. I lied about not having anything interesting to say about myself… actually, even though I came down here for my own means… I do have stuff about my past that I’d… really want to get off my chest. It’s only fair, you told me almost everything about you and yet you don’t know anything about--”

You hadn’t realized he had sprouted a vine until it was too late, and the thin plant pressed against your lips. It was as gentle as a kiss, and it silenced you quite easily. You blinked speechlessly at him as he continued to stare.

You furrowed your brows thoughtfully, and he sighed as he continued, smirking somewhat “There are no more resets, at least, from what Frisk had promised me and that... Smiley Trashbag… this is it, whatever happens is officially permanent. This is the end.” He paused, pulling the vine away from your lips, almost as if he brushed it delicately before returning it to the earth. His small smile was genuine, his calm demeanor strange but very inviting. “I always get a feeling that… I can’t trust Frisk, I feel that they’re lying… they’ll reset any moment and we’ll be back to square one and I’ll look like an idiot but... It hasn’t. As simple as that… for years it hasn’t… so now I just have to believe that everything will take its course. Whatever I do is permanent, so whatever you do… try not to regret it.” He looked away finally, breaking the spell so you could also shyly look away. Flowey then mumbled “Tell me when you’re comfortable, don’t feel obligated or forced, I don’t give a shit and it’s not that big of a deal that you have to feel pressured.”

His words made you rather warm inside, and you found yourself kneeling right next to him. He quickly looked back to you, his eyes widened. But like before, as you leaned closer to him, you saw his walls gently come down. The tiny barriers that hid his truths seemed to part ways for you, because as you inched closer, he closed his eyes, and he definitely puckered his lips and leaned forward, ready for a kiss…

You wrapped your arms around him and hugged him tightly. Your face straight and plain, but in the back of your mind you were smiling at his actions. Flowey wanted a kiss, it was obvious he had gotten so used to your kisses that every time you came too close it was basically expected. His body stiffened in your grasp, but he eventually relaxed in your embrace.

“Let’s keep moving. Hotland isn’t too far now.” He reassured you with a nod, you finally pulled back and nodded as well before standing to your feet. He sank into the ground, appearing a few feet ahead of you, showing you the way.

You were trying not to laugh at the name Hotland.

Notes:

> "Flowey I keep having weird dreams of me deepthroating you."> "Flower cock in MY mouth? It's more likely than you think."> ¯\_(ツ)_/¯> Flowjo: "I can't control what your dreams are weirdo."

Summary:

Your words were cut short by your own loss of breath. The realization that you were in love with her came as quick as it left. But you couldn’t admit it to yourself, let alone Flowey.

Notes:

> Okay this chapter is also short, i am ashamed> *performs seppuku*

> Not to sound cocky but I'm sure everyone out there, artists and writers alike(and then some), have written or drawn something they thought was so deep, meaningful, and beautiful that they cried while working on it, yeah? I can't be the only one that gets hella emotional during deep shit of my own creation.> Cuz I'll admit I cried a little while writing this.> Fuck the police.> (jk)> Tags were Updated.

Chapter Text

Chapter Ten: You Thought You Had It

There it was, that long silence again.

Ever since the echo flower room, everything felt more… serious.

Suddenly it was hard to bring up anything without it feeling personal, you felt remorse and pity even though you knew you definitely weren’t in the right position to feel so for Flowey. After all, you were in the same place as him. Losing people the two of you held dear, choosing solitude for the sake of everyone else’s happiness… getting defensive to protect yourselves.

And you didn’t realize it then, but now you noted how you were doing some type of experiment on Flowey. Simply testing the waters to see how much he suddenly cared about you like you did for him. You stopped giving him any kisses(smoochin’s) and resorted to hugs, and so far, he’s turned to mush from the lack of them. You wondered if he would ask you about it, but you kept that to yourself for now, simply enjoying watching Flowey go from this insane crazed soulless flower to this soft and heartfelt being. You wanted to cherish this.

The drizzle had turned into rain almost as soon as you heard a distant melody.

It was faint, but there, and you squeezed the hilt of the umbrella as the roof of the cavern continued to drip over the two of you. There must have been a heavier leak somewhere on the ceiling for it to be pouring like rain. The melodies echo bounced from the distance, and while you can’t make out the pattern, you knew it was some sort of song. However due to how far you two were, it didn’t sound like much.

“What is that?” You asked finally, breaking the silence between you two. Flowey lifted his head a bit as you caught up to stand beside him. He lightly tilted his head, one flower petal stretched as if it were performing like an ear, and he was silent as he listened.

The distant melody continued.

“Just ignore it.” He finally muttered, sinking into the earth to continue the walk in silence.

Your curiousity made you continue wondering about it anyway, furrowing your brow as you continued to follow Flowey. Now that there was rain pouring, the warm humidity had subsided and left a cool and quite refreshing air about Waterfall. Every now and again you felt a gentle breeze lightly grace your skin, and you would take in a breath to steal said breeze into your lungs. Who knew when you would inhale fresh air again?

You couldn’t shake the music away, as you kept following Flowey, the music grew louder, more defined, and suddenly you could at least make out what sort of sounds you were hearing. It sounded somewhat like a music box, the keys twinkling gently along the walls, and finally it sounded like a child-like song. It was very beautiful.

As you two finally entered a rather dark hall, you knew it was in the same room. The rain had stopped pouring on you, but from what you saw not too far from where you stood, it continued. The rain was now solely centered on, what appeared to be, a statue at the center of the dark area that had a small ray of sunlight beaming down on it; almost like a spotlight. You shook your umbrella a bit, letting the raindrops fall off of its canopy, before closing it fully. The hall bounced with the repetitive sounds, like a lullaby trying to take you back into a slumber.

The song sounded like a story you never quite heard before.

You slowly walked up to approach the statue, the sounds of dripping rain and the musical melody filled you with a beautiful calm. You sighed almost romantically as you viewed the piece of art, the statue looked to be shaped like a hunched over monster, large horns on either side of its head, and tucked underneath its arms was an umbrella to protect it from the rain that trickled down and washed away at the stone. A musical mechanism seemed to be active within the statue, activated by the water drops that hit each key note perfectly and in a repeating pattern. You took a step back to fully view the marvel, before carefully pulling out your notebook to write.

It’s only half way through your entry that you realized Flowey wasn’t with you, and when you turned your head around, you spotted him at the end of the hall from wence you came, simply staring off towards you in the dark. The entire cavern had darkened, but only because there was a spotlight pouring sun down over the statue to make it more known and show its importance. You couldn’t tell whether it was still the same sun you knew earlier when you had left the ruins, or if it was another day’s sun that had passed.

“Why are you all the way over there?” You called out to him, and though he hesitated, he slowly surfed through the dirt to make his way towards you. The two of you stood side by side looking the statue over for a silent moment, before you looked back at him “Is something wrong?”

“This is Asriel’s memorial.” Flowey said almost bluntly. His brows were furrowed, his lips almost in a pout as he stared at the statue, ignoring your eyes completely “This was made the day he died.”

You opened your mouth to speak, but couldn’t find anything to say, so you looked back to the statue quietly.

“The melody is… very nostalgic.” He added, clicking his tongue as if he had said something wrong, however he continued “But… not a good nostalgic, I guess.”

You frown slightly at this “Why is this so bad to you?”

“Duh.” Flowey rolled his eyes “It’s a reminder of him being dead. If you think death is fucking great then by all means enjoy the view, but this is what I think about this stupid statue; the song's been playing nonstop and drives me insane to the point of wanting to kill myself. It pisses me off.”

Flowey sounded completely annoyed at the statue, now looking away from it and you, almost angrily.

“It’s just a memory though…” You added softly, thoughtfully mentioning “It’s not meant for torture… it’s just a terrible past memory that… reminds you you’ve survived it and moved forward. Think of this as a trophy rather than something dark.”

“But I wasn’t supposed to survive it.” His main stem stretched up, so that he could face you at your height. You pulled your head back, however that only made Flowey move forward so his face was closer to yours as he responded in a low and somewhat distant tone “If Alphys never did that dumb experiment with Asriel’s ashes and with stupid DETERMINATION, I wouldn’t be here.”

Being face to face with a scowling flower was somewhat intimidating, you found yourself slowly lowering down to sit on the ground. Once again, he followed, shrinking the rest of his plant-like body into the dirt. You wrapped your arm around him, causing his annoyed expression to almost instantly shift. Suddenly he was frowning, his brows arching in surprise and his eyes widening while looking downward. With his head lowering, and his petals drooping, it was as if a wave of depression had changed his mood on the subject, from anger to sadness. A tiny vine erupted from the dirt, in response to your touch, and it almost carefully wrapped itself around the arm that you had carefully draped around Flowey. Of course he had no shoulders for you to support your arm on, but you let it hover to show that you were trying to keep him close, and soon enough the tiny vine that wrapped around your arm was used as a support. It allowed you to rest your arm heavily on it all the while still keeping it around Flowey.

“I lost my best friend when I was little.” You figured now was as good of a time as any to mention a tragedy of your own. While not on the same level as dying, it related to something just as close. He kept his head down to hide his face, a shadow hiding it away as you carried on with your story “We were so close… she was the reason I went outside to play, the reason I kept going… we told each other stories, we were curious and explored around, and even if I was the book nerd in the corner reading up on everything, she was the one who wanted to find out in person. She wanted to discover things for herself. Just imagine this nerd and this active, fit, lively girl being best friends.”

You thought of a couple in particular, but you brushed them aside in your mind.

“She was popular and got along with everyone, the most amazing dancer… she always accepted me no matter what and I thought we would grow up together. I thought we would grow older together and just maybe we would…” Your words were cut short by your own loss of breath. The realization that you were in love with her came as quick as it left.

But you couldn’t admit it to yourself, let alone Flowey.

You ignored it, swallowed it all down, and continued “She vanished one day… she went hiking on mount Ebott and just never came back… and I knew something had happened, but my parents always told me some lie, trying to guess at how dumb I was. They told me she went on vacation…”

Suddenly your throat was getting sore, your eyes were welling up with tears that you refused to let fall “I thought it was monsters. I knew it was monsters. Or maybe… someone had just kidnapped her, taken her away from me. Because of her though I couldn’t… I couldn’t trust anyone. I never made a friend since her I just... I always blamed everyone else, I blamed her for me not being able to make friends but I just…”

You realized you were rambling, and immediately stopped talking. Flowey kept his head lowered.

As if the melody had been silent for the sake of your tale, you heard it return to ringing in your ears, the world around you filling with natural and mechanical music once more. “I have fond memories of her, though.” You finally added softly “Being with her, and even dancing as if I were her. Even in… someone’s death… it shouldn’t be an angry or hateful tragedy you constantly mourn…”

You really were a hypocrite. You were mourning right now.

“Think from Asriel’s perspective, would he really want you to mourn over him forever? Or to always get pissed off when near anything that relates to him?”

It wasn’t until then that you realized Flowey was snuggling into your side. His head was heavily leaned against your ribs, the vine around your arm loosened, causing your arm to drop a bit. However you recovered just so you could let a hand delicately brush against his petals. “It’s okay to find happiness, Flowey.”

The two of you then sat there together, simply looking back at the statue and letting the music take you away. This time around, the silence was rather soothing, calming your own nerves, and you assured yourself that they were calming Flowey’s too. He didn’t exactly say anything else in response, whether he wanted to object or not you wouldn’t know since he chose silence over both options, but soon enough you blurted out “In memory of Asriel Dreemurr, little prince of the underground.”

Nodding firmly as you stared at the statue, suddenly you heard Flowey repeat your words:

“In memory of Asriel, prince of the underground.”

You looked his way just as he had finished, and he glanced back at you before returning his attention to the statue. The two of you had come so far since when you first met. Flowey had turned another cheek, his acts of violence completely simmered away(almost). As if you were dealing with an entirely different person altogether.

You added then “And in honor of prince Flowey, new ruler of the underground!”

“Wow.” Flowey snorted, but you nudged him and mumbled under your breath “You gotta repeat it, this is your initiation.”

The golden flower wrinkled his non-existent nose “Aren’t you being just a bit childish?”

You pouted coyly “Flowey~” Whining lightly just as he sighed heavily, though you smiled as he nonchalantly repeated “And in honor of King Flowey, new overlord of the underground.”

“Close enough.” You patted his head as you lifted back up to your feet, opening the umbrella once more in preparation of leaving. The music continued as you sighed “Let’s get back on track then.”

“If this is going to be meant for me, can we find a way to break the music box and change that damned song?” Flowey suddenly asked quickly, looking up to you almost with wonder in his eyes. You looked back down at him with a smirk “Well, what would you want it to be instead?” Flowey stuck out his tongue and winked rather playfully towards you “Something with a badass guitar would be nice.”

“I definitely did not imagine you as the rocker type.” You tried not to chuckle, but it escaped anyway, and he started to bang his head as if at a concert. You hummed “I don’t see a way of replacing the song unless we actually break the statue down, but you can always make up your own tune with it whenever you gotta go through here. Pick up beatboxing, Flowjo. Get creative.” You gestured with your head for him to lead again, and Flowey continued to rock his head back and forth as he surfed through the earth.

All the while he was beatboxing, or at least trying his best to.

Notes:

> Just imagine DJ Flowjo beatboxing Hopes and Dreams.

> That's actually what he's implying to the reader, he wants to put a guitar rendition of Hopes and Dreams inside the statue.

> Flowey hardcore af.(EDIT)> Also wtf does slow burn mean??? Like I'm seeing like 'slow burn fic' and shit like why are you gonna burn it don't do that thats rude(EDIT EDIT)> though i was also told it meant its a long fic that just takes a slow pace to get to certain points but ive read this 'slow burn' shit and like??? some people are getting to banging at like chapter 3?? slow burn my ass?

Summary:

Flowey’s voice suddenly picked up, causing you to look back at him, and he added “Did you try to kill yourself, too?”“I…” ...Well? Did you?

Notes:

> I was gonna add the tag ‘slow burn’ but then I realized "naw it aint slow burn lolol"

> After this chapter I might need to take a break to focus on life.> I have not only a dating sim to focus on, but work and art and projects too.> Though breaks to me aren’t that long. And I usually end up writing even when I shouldn’t be so.> ...But I hope everyone’s enjoyed my story so far, I appreciate everyone sticking by this and kudo’ing me. <3 Please comment too, I always read and appreciate them! owo and i want more--

Chapter Text

Chapter Eleven: And He Let Go

It didn’t matter whether Flowey didn’t want to rush you to talk about yourself or not, it was still stuck on your mind. You were hoping to get things off your chest, and you really wanted to.

You were pretty sure you were ready to tell your story.

After all, a part of you felt that telling Flowey would do no harm, he was under unfortunate but blessed circumstances. It’s not like he can talk and mock your past to someone else, right? They were negative thoughts of course, but to you they were mostly positive. You hadn’t thought much over it, but wondering about it now, you could tell that the years Flowey’s been down here and alone have brought a sense of enlightenment and maturity. Even though Flowey was still struggling to grasp his purpose for being banished alone, even if he was still trying to control his thought process, even if he was still on the edge of believing and disbelieving in his emotions, Flowey was learning to understand himself…

And it was time you did too.

Soon enough as the two of you continued ahead, the environment grew darker, damper, and the drops of water from the distant ceiling returned to pouring like rain; almost like a storm. For a moment, you even forgot you were underground, you started to believe that you would hear thunder any second, but the reminder that it would never come made you somewhat troubled. How long had it been now? Would you actually find a way back home? The time spent down here has made you ponder your entire life, as if you were being judged by unseen forces. Even Flowey, who knew nothing about you, gave you the feeling that everytime he looked your way you were being judged by all the moves you made in your troubled past and your confusing present. He was with you from the beginning, and even when you slept your dreams seemed to be cluttered by him.

But then again, compared to his life, your life was far more simple.

You both suffered loss, but you weren’t turned into a soulless flower.

You accidentally walked right into Flowey then, the toe of your boot giving him a rough nudge.

“Hey!” He yelped, trying his best not to fall forward, though his stem was longer than his leafy arms, so he wasn’t able to keep himself from barely smacking into the dirt. You had a nervous smile on your lips, trying not to laugh but also trying to show you were apologizing without words as you watched him recuperate, and he glared up at you in the dark. His eyes were glowing, however it wasn’t from that spark of magic he often used to transform and morph his face, it was actually a reflection from another light source. Even in the dark, there was a gentle light that coated everything around the two of you, and as you turned and realized where it came from, you gasped in awe.

Almost breathless, you muttered, eyeing the building in the distance “What’s that…?”

There in the distance stood a grand castle, and the high ceiling of the underground flickered with makeshift starlight. The castle looked fairly old, even from how far you were, you could easily tell that it had been abandoned many years ago from how plant life crawled over it all, some of the towers that once stood strong had crumbled down, but the bright blue light from the stars up above and from the castle itself was what reflected off of Flowey’s eyes, and your own, as the two of you now stood there staring off and over the castle as if it really were as beautiful as it was.

Just imagining how it looked long ago made you smile, your imagination running wild at the thought that there once were people, monsters, living a day to day life in a busy medieval-like city. A king, a ruler, and their people. Would life had been easier if you had fallen underground and chosen to stay? Would things have been different today? Would you have friends? And a better family?

Would you and Flowey still--

“That’s Asgore’s castle.” Flowey finally answered your question(probably just so that he could inturrupt your thought process, considering you were very expressive you just knew that Flowey probably understood fully well that you were in the middle of thinking of things), though you didn’t look at him in any way, your eyes were glued to the building, and your fingers gripping the umbrella hilt tightly. He proceeded nonetheless “It’s technically called New Home, my last place you visited is the city of… Home…” He suddenly let out a tiny laugh, though you couldn’t help but smile at this as well as he added quickly “King Assclown was never good with names, hence why the towns down here are, well, Waterfall, Hotland, etc.”

“That place looks huge…” You murmured in awe, awestruck once more and unafraid to admit it “Gosh… I wish I could’ve… been here to see it when it was just built or… something, wow. What was it like to live here? What was it like to… live in royalty.”

You didn’t realize what you had done, not at the moment.

You were so focused on the city, you didn’t notice Flowey’s stare. Right at you, gazing over your face as if curiously wondering what was on your mind. It felt like the same curious stare that you had felt the moment you laid eyes on Snowdin after Flowey had opened the doors for you at the end of the ruins, those beady eyes staring at you in wonder as you stared at something else entirely. You couldn’t help it, you were an archaeologist for a reason, after all. But as soon as you finally did pay him any attention, Flowey had already looked away “It’s not as exciting as you think. The only reason we moved further down was for the sake of--”

He suddenly hesitated, and practically flinched as if he had been hit in the gut. You quickly turned yourself fully to face him, alerted and leaning a bit closer to him “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” Flowey managed to lower his eyes down to the earth, doing his very best to ignore your face probably. “Just…”

Realization finally hit you. Oh, right.

“Flowey, it’s okay.” You knelt down, letting the knees of your skin press into the wet dirt and not caring much for it. You fell(forcefully) down into the underground who knew how long ago, whether it had been just two or three days, or whether your one week’s time was up, you had lost track and were starting to slowly not even care about it. Your fashion was destroyed and you probably looked as filthy as you felt. But you reached out a hand to carefully brush your fingertips over his topmost petal “You don’t have to say anything you don’t want, I completely--”

“Chara.”

You blinked “Huh?”

Flowey suddenly turned his gaze towards you, his eyes practically piercing your soul with such an intense stare. Unwavering, unfearful, almost lost... but he remained silent. He somewhat looked to be in a trance-like state, suddenly he looked tired. Overwhelmed, drifting away, Flowey looked abandoned and so far off as if he weren’t even right next to you. And yet he continued to stare at you, expecting something, maybe he was just expecting anything at this point, some sort of reaction… but there was nothing you could really give. You had no idea what he meant, who he said, who Chara was, and there was no way to could exactly respond.

“Flowey…” You figured now was as good a time as any, and you slowly sat yourself down in the dirt, crossing your legs in front of you and keeping the umbrella overhead. You dared to look away from him and back to the castle far out of reach. The underground was so vast... it felt like the castle stood millions of miles away, just as when you expected the ceilings of the underground to be so low, you were in utter shock at how high they were. So high that the glowing gemstones and lights shined like false stars. The underground was a whole new world, and it was time to tell Flowey about your own world; your life.

“When I was little…” You started with a shaky breath, trying to ignore Flowey’s intense gaze fixated on you. Unwavering, perhaps he was still in his own trance trying to piece together what he had just stumbled into… but you pushed on with your tale. “I had problems. The war between monsters and humans was so long ago that, well… to people on the surface it became myth, legend? I guess… it just became some scary story to keep kids inside late at night. Even when children would start to vanish, a lot of people either claimed they ran off on vacation--”

Mom… Dad…

“--or that it was something else entirely. I just, I always liked the idea of monsters living with us. Being around us… I liked the idea of there just being something else out there, something unlike humankind… long ago humans could use magic but, suddenly we depended on technology instead, suddenly we lost everything we once had, sacrificed it all because of the fear that… well, monsters could take human souls and we couldn’t take theirs.”

You swallowed the lump forming in your throat, never removing your eyes from the castle as you searched and prodded your own brain, reminding yourself of the knowledge not only had you studied and learned on your own, but discovered underground during your stay as well “I mean, it even sounds strange. All monsters can take any human soul… but humans can only take the monster souls of Boss Monsters. But it was still wrong of us all to just assume all monsters would do this, it was still wrong of humans to just shove everyone underground…”

There she was then, up in the dark amongst the flickering gems that made the ceiling of the cavern look like stars… the girl danced in her tutu on her ballet shoes, as graceful as you always remembered.

“I was a loner.” You continued almost breathlessly “I still am at heart, I don’t think it’ll ever go away, introverted, a hermit… permanent-loneliness. But I had a best friend… and she was popular amongst all the other kids. Everyone wanted to be her friend, and she was friends with everybody but… she chose me as the best. She would come over and we’d hang out all the time, go out and play… she kept me active and I guess I kept her informed. Like me, she loved the idea of monsters truly existing. They were out there somewhere, and we would read up on them together, we would… we would...”

You quickly closed the umbrella and set it beside you, to just let the rain pour over your entirety. You could feel your soul tugging at your chest, begging to be released out there, dancing in the glittering skies with your friend. You knew you were crying, the cold water that dripped over your face cleared away the hot tears, an easy disguise so that Flowey couldn’t see you in such a state. Again, at least… other than the very first moment you two met and you were crying out for help.

And he came.

You weren’t afraid of him. You were sure that your fear of him had gone away, but the fear of judgement was still there. Of being mocked, ridiculed, for how you felt these things and openly expressed them even when you didn’t want to. So expressive… compared to Frisk who had a tone about them to be taken seriously, less animated than you but more in depth. Hiding your tears in the cool waters of the Waterfall rain, you kept going.

“She was my everything and she showed me how to live and love and, just appreciate everything as it came. She opened me up… and then one day…” The memory you had, a dream not long ago, of her heading up the mountain to hike without you. She was alone, and you let her go. “One day she goes up mount Ebott and just never comes back. I waited all day for her, so when she was done with her hike we could go home together… but it became night time, my parents made me come inside, and the next day she... her parents called her in as missing.”

“I looked everywhere; All our hideouts, all our favorite places, but no one had seen her, no one but me. I was the last to watch her leave, I let her go without me… and I regretted it, and it stung… she had left me without even saying goodbye.”

“And I blamed her for everything at first. Why I couldn’t make anymore friends, why I couldn’t trust myself to make any… my best friend was gone, I could never make another friend. They’d just vanish too… everyone leaves eventually, right?”

“With her around I could at least survive my parents, but… when she left, I couldn’t tell anyone how I felt… not only did I close myself in, but my parents helped me do that. They even marched to my school to shout at my teacher for teaching me about monsters. I couldn’t tell them I wanted to study them, I wanted to learn more about them… I couldn’t tell them I wanted to become an archaeologist and… historian someone… someone who just…”

The jig was up, you wiped your eyes even though the rain was washing away your sorrows. You couldn’t hide it anymore that you were crying your eyes out, then again you realized your voice had probably been cracking like a kid going through puberty during the entire speech. It was safe to say that Flowey was smart enough to get when someone was upset, and rain couldn’t hide everything. But zoning back into reality, the dancing child faded as nothing more than a pleasant memory, and it was just you and Flowey now… who thankfully had abandoned staring at you and was looking at the castle as well. “Work was my escape. It wasn’t that no one liked me, I just didn’t want to suffer anymore, not again.. I didn’t want to live in a world without her, in a world--”

“Without love?”

Flowey’s voice suddenly picked up, causing you to look back at him, and he added “Did you try to kill yourself, too?”

“I…”

...Well? Did you?

“No…” You managed finally, thankfully. “I was afraid… afraid of what might happen. What happens after death? Do we get a new life? Do we begin again? Or does it all just end? I’m a sucker for reading up and gathering info but there’s never been solid evidence on what comes after death… the unknown scares me. I have no exact religious beliefs, I have no faith in myself let alone someone else to SAVE me when I die… I don’t… I just can’t imagine what it’s like, so I can’t risk it...”

Looking at him, you saw Flowey smiling, but he was silent once again. You figured it was a good sign that you could keep going “I had to stand up to my parents eventually… finally I could… speak to them about what I loved. I felt confident… the moment Frisk came out the underground with all these monsters… the moment I felt…”

You remember somewhat hurting that your best friend never resurfaced with them. You remembered the first person you searched for in the crowds of monsters that young Frisk walked along with. Hunting, a young child searching for their best friend… only to realize that they hadn’t came back with Frisk… they hadn’t, and they never would. But you kept going.

“I felt, relieved. I felt… happy… my parents didn’t want to see them parading into the city but… but I…”

You were free.

“I felt free. It was the first time I disobeyed them, they told me to come back, not go near those ‘things’ but I just ran with them. My family life shattered, but I started something new. Me and Frisk became great--”

Friends?

“Me and Frisk… before they vanished I never knew them, I didn’t see them at school, I didn’t see them anywhere I just, one day we just saw their ‘missing child’ ads posted with all the other missing children. But when they came back things changed, when I found out they spent all that time underground, managed to survive and they had resurfaced, I instantly wanted to get to know them. I thought, they would understand me… they would get me. But, no matter how hard I wanted to, I still kept away… I just, kept holding myself back even as he got older together. We went to the same school together, we talked and discussed things all the time about monsters, their origins, they told me and taught me so much, and eventually when my parents tried to force me to choose between continuing to go to college to study monster history… or to follow them, I chose to leave. I left my own parents behind, and while me and Frisk were at school, they left me too. I haven’t heard from them since.”

You found yourself smiling as well, the rain was comforting and cleansing you completely “But I’ve gotten to know Frisk so much, them and their caretaker, Toriel… by the time both of us graduated college, Toriel was there to watch us cross the stage. She was there and, Frisk’s friends Sans, Papyrus… Alphys, Asgore… Undyne they were… they were all there. Everyone was there cheering for Frisk, but they were also cheering for me.”

Wait… you have friends…?

“I made my own life. I’m still struggling, every day… even now I sometimes just don’t think of Frisk as a friend, just a co-worker. I never hang out with them, I find myself trying to dodge that, somehow. Even after all I’ve done, and how far I’ve gotten myself, I find myself having trouble letting go of the past…”

You suddenly found yourself unable to say anything else. Your words were cut short by your own shaky breath. You were trying to hold back an emotional sob, choking down your tears that continued to remain hidden behind the waters that fell from above. You were pretty sure that you were sitting in a puddle of mud at this point, your clothing slowly soaking up all of the water like a sponge. But you also felt like a heavy weight was lifted from your shoulders, having told your everything to Flowey. Everything up to this point, how you lived, what your life was like, and then the realization that it sounded almost like--

Flowey let out a soft laugh.

This caught your attention, and you looked to him thoughtfully, furrowed brows as you concentrated on his face that seemed to have darken in the dim light of the cavern. The rain had made his petals droopy now, but you could tell he was using the water as a guise as much as you were. What sort of thoughts and emotions were stirring up inside of him?

“My name was Asriel… Asriel Dreemurr. It’s safe to say that you’ve met King Asgore and Queen Toriel before… they were once my parents.”

And so it begun, you crashed through your walls and fears to tell him your everything, and suddenly he was trying to do the same.

“I was a royal child, a ‘boss monster’. I guess… other kids thought it was hard to be friends with me because of my status and who I was born to be, so I didn’t get to hang out much with anyone my age. I mean, don’t get me wrong I… I remember loving the time I spent with my parents, but I still felt alone.”

Suddenly his breathing hitched, a gasp had escaped him, as if he had seen something he’d never seen before, you even looked away from him and around as if you were trying to spot whatever it was that made him so surprised. But looking back to Flowey you saw that he was simply staring wide eyed at the castle “Then… one day… I guess the day of reckoning…” His voice was so gentle and frail, you almost forgot you were talking to Flowey and not some lost and angered spirit “I heard someone, crying out… calling for help. Naturally, I went to see who it was… and that’s the moment I met, well, my best friend at the time… Chara. A fallen human, the first of many, actually. They were hurt, and upset, so I took them home so that my parents could help.”

His voice was slowly changing, shifting into the familiar voice of the echo flower you heard not too long ago. Asriel’s voice that reassured Flowey that he was loved, and always would be.

Flowey’s voice had vanished and been replaced by Asriel’s as he continued “There was no way for them to get home. At least, none we could think of at the time… so after they stayed for awhile we adopted them into the family. Chara Dreemurr… and we were inseparable, really. Everything they wanted to do I followed them. Everything I wanted to do, everywhere I went, they did the same…”

“Maybe… that’s why I couldn’t see it then, how bad this all was going to turn out for us… for me…”

You could’ve sworn you heard him whimper as he forced out more words “I was just a kid, desperate for friendship… and to do whatever it took to keep it, even long after they were gone from this world, after Chara died… I tried to aim to please as if… they were still… with me… somewhere. Somehow.”

Eventually his words trailed off into silence, and just as quickly as it came, the moment left, and so did his voice. Flowey’s voice soon enough returned to normal and perked up as if nothing had even happened to begin with “You get the next chapter later on. We should get moving before we both catch a cold!”

You found yourself smiling, trying to play off the dark stories the two of you shared with a joke “Aww, but it was getting so good~!”

Flowey’s smile was stiff, but he looked to you with a tilt of his head “No… no it wasn’t…”

But when the moment passed once more, he gestured with his head “Let’s get moving, I’ve taken in so much water I could probably piss myself.” He sank into the wet dirt so quickly, that you were stumbling to pick up the umbrella all the while lift and move forward on your confused feet. You were practically tripping over yourself before you finally reached him, and he added “Just remember, Asriel is who I once was… and I’m not him anymore, got it? I don’t want you to confuse us and I don’t want you to misstep.”

“I know.” You nodded, a genuine nod, full understanding that Flowey was his own person from now on. You held the umbrella over the two of you, and you knelt down back to his level as he looked up to you curiously. As you slowly leaned closer, returning to your previous studies on how Flowey would react, just as before he didn’t cease to amaze you. You kept your eyes fixated on him as Flowey closed his own and puckered his lips, hoping this time was different than the last few times you denied him of such affections.

And like those times, you simply hugged him.

You felt him flinch, even mutter something under his breath, but you held onto him as if it were the last hug you could ever give. You knew that was a lie, but it was a nice and comforting embrace of appreciation for him. You opened up to him, you finally opened up to someone. He sure as heck wasn’t a therapist, and he didn’t exactly comment or respond in any way to your story (other than asking if you tried to kill yourself), but he listened... and in turn he told you more. About being a monster once, loving his family, loving the first human to fall underground… but what he avoided to tell you was what exactly caused everything to go downhill from there. Even though you knew bits and pieces on how the story would end, it was better to hear it all laid out by him rather than using assumptions.

And you knew you would wait for him to be ready, just as he had been waiting for you as well.

You realized then that he was hugging you back, his vines wrapped around you to return the embrace that the two of you shared for more than a minute now. As you slowly loosened your hold, he did the same. Looking at him as you pulled away, you saw his flushed face in the dim blue light, and his annoyed expression, ready to finally ask what the hell was happening.

And indeed he did.

Upset over you not kissing him in awhile(even though that’s not how he worded it), he tried to ask “Why are you suddenly playing coy?”

You blinked in confusion, lifting your free hand to rub and wipe at your face to try and clear the rain water as best as you could. It didn’t help all too much of course, no matter how dry your face was, the rest of you was soaked as if you just dived into an ocean “Me? Coy? I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“You sure as hell do, you went from annoying ass-kisser to tree-hugger.” He huffed.

You snorted “So you were an ass before, and now you’re a tree?”

His vines had returned then, almost too quickly for you to react. Naturally you tried to pull away, considering the last time he spontaneously sprouted vines that lunged for you it was during a phase where he wanted to make you choke on them or die by them. The memories of his violent threats of killing you seemed to rush into your brain as you were grabbed. Two of the vines had cupped your cheeks, and another you failed to notice had wrapped around your waist and tugged you closer almost too quickly. You found yourself stumbling forward and down towards Flowey’s level, you breathed out a gasp of shock, before you were silenced with a kiss on your lips.

It wasn’t terribly deep, it wasn’t lewd or uncomfortable, to be honest you wondered if it was even too ‘perfect’ to be true. It wasn’t that you had much to compare it to, considering you had never kissed anyone before on the lips-- let alone a talking flower-- but you did find the kiss to be strangely heated, deep but not deep enough where tongues were flying like in the movies. Thank god there was no tongue involved.

You found yourself closing your eyes though, returning the kiss to the flower’s lips just as soft yet rough as he was giving you, and almost just as quick as it had came, it left. Flowey gently pushed you away, releasing you from his vines hold as the three sank back into the mud. The sudden push had made you fall back into the dirt, sitting on the earth once more as you gave him a baffled look. Now you could tell the both of you were blushing furiously.

“There.” Flowey finally stammered, probably trying to think up a reason for what he had done… some sort of excuse in his usual Flowey nature “A-Aren’t you glad you got that off your chest? I know you’ve been wanting to do that for awhile--”

“That was my first kiss.” You admitted under your breath and said this so quickly that you wondered if it was the right thing(or the right time) to mention. Bringing your fingers to your lips, you poked and prodded your bottom one with your index finger as if checking to see if Flowey removed them.

Flowey’s eyes were wide just like an owl’s, kinda looked like in anime-- “YOUR… YOUR PARENTS MUST HAVE KISSED YOU BEFORE! Those count, ya know!”

You suddenly smirked at him, your eyes half-lidded to try and give yourself a dreamy appearance while looking the embarrassed flower over “No, they haven’t… and no… those don’t…”

Flowey remained frozen, staring at you like you were an alien from another planet. As if you were the soulless flower and they had just fallen underground from a terrifying(and intentional) rope accident. The thought that this was perhaps his first kiss as well made you smile even more, though your face was heated, and possibly just as red as his so there was no way for you to tease about his blushing. You returned to your kneeling position, and repositioned the umbrella over the two of you.

“W-Well…!” Flowey finally started again, puffing his invisible chest, as well as his cheeks “You’re welcome!”

“You like me kissing you, dont’cha Flowey…?” You asked slyly, squinting your eyes at him as you tried not to laugh; however it resulted in you giggling instead.

Flowey then exploded. To anyone else it probably looked like he was throwing a tantrum at a candy store for his parents telling him ‘no’ to something, but to you it was the most laughable thing that you had to try and hold down. He was suddenly flailing the leaves on either side of his main stem, yelling complete nonsense as he threw an adorable and flustered shouting match at no one in particular. In bits of his yelling you could make out that he was cursing up a storm as well, then again, you weren’t sure if yelling ‘tits’ was really much of a curse word. But his entire face was now so red that even in the blue light of the makeshift starry sky above couldn’t mask how red he was, golden flower Flowey was suddenly as red as a rose.

But finally he started to make sense of his words, blurting out in protest as he glared daggers(of denial) your way. “No! It’s not like I like your dumb kisses! I only did that because you…! You wanted me to! I saw it! And you did it before so I figured why the hell shouldn’t I?!”

Though soon enough his anger(or embarrassment?) subsided and he huffed out, his lips curved in an unsure line of insecurity as he admitted so easily “Okay... they're okay.”

You tried to hold back your proud smile, but it escaped and covered your lips anyway “Then more kisses you shall get.”

Though even as you said this, suddenly your heart was racing, pounding so fast against your chest as if you were going to die of a heart attack at any moment. You felt this strange sensation in your stomach, you felt… shy all of a sudden, was it embarrassment? Was it… something else? Butterflies in your belly like the few times you recalled doing presentations in college. The first time you met your best friend, and the moment you watched her leave. An insecure feeling, a gut wrenching feeling, afraid of it to keep going, but afraid you might lose the feeling. Before you knew it, you realized you had been staring Flowey down with probably a similar flustered look he had been giving you.

You pushed the feeling as far away as you could, not forcing it to leave but kindly escorting it to the corner of your brain. Flowey’s shy face had turned away from you as he muttered “Let’s get a move on already! Stop distracting me!” And he sank into the earth and started to poke his head out farther away, leading the way out of the rainy area.

What the hell just happened? You were worried for yourself as you got back to your feet and stood there to ponder over things. It couldn’t of been that, after teasing Flowey all this time, opening up to him caused you to… feel things? But you couldn’t just deny them! You’d be such a hypocrite, telling Flowey to accept his feelings and things but then denying your own. But then again, you weren’t technically doing that either, were you? You didn’t even know what they were or what was happening. Claiming you were denying these feelings was just as similar to a child claiming they hated broccoli after never having had it, let alone tried it. You weren’t denying the feelings, you just needed time to figure out what they were, what they meant, and whether they were truly supposed to be… well, meant for Flowey.

Ugh, is that some kawaii anime shit running through your head?

You could’ve sworn your heart beats were sounding like ‘doki-doki’ on repeat in some weeaboo voice.

However it did remind you that, even if the thought of Alphys and Undyne’s strange anime tastes made you shiver and cringe, you found yourself excited to see Alphys’ lab. Not that you had time for it on the surface, but you did enjoy anime and manga. Any fantasy that helped you escape your reality.

Your mind sure was bouncing from one subject to another.

As you two returned to your walk, you were trying to process what exactly happened, and why you were suddenly feeling a strange adrenaline rush of anxiety. Concern, feeling self conscious. Oh god, you looked a mess! The humidity returned, it didn’t help that your clothes were completely ruined and had absorbed all that water, the cool damp rain that coated your skin was now converting itself into beads of sweat as the two of you went farther and farther away from where you once were. The ruins felt like so long ago at this point, even Snowdin, though that was closer. Waterfall felt huge compared to the last two places you had been, and soon enough(as you felt the cool and damp, humid temperatures fall just as the hot and steamy temperatures rise) you would be at the next area in no time at all.

You had to prepare to climb a rather tall ledge, just as the rain had finally stopped and you found a rather conveniently placed spot to put your umbrella. You placed it inside with the other abandoned umbrellas before approaching the ledge, pretty much ready to climb it as you had been performing your own stunts your entire time underground. However, you were shocked when Flowey had decided to help(even though you didn’t ask for it and he didn’t offer, simply did it.) He had wrapped a vine around your waist as if he were a protective belt, and then using two other vines he pressed them at the bottoms of your boots to lift you upward. Even Flowey had limits apparently, you could tell because as you were lifted and you held onto the vine at your hips, you could feel the two supporting you from below shake and waver as if you were truly that heavy. You still continued to push back those feelings to the side of your brain as you were slowly and finally placed at the ledge, ignoring your self-conscious questioning if perhaps you were too big. You hurried yourself onto the solid ground, and with Flowey’s help he was able to get you up there rather easily, and join you afterwards with a huff. You expected some snarky remark about your weight, he had done it once before, after all…

But you were surprised (and thankful) when he said nothing, after joining you he returned to leading the way quietly as if he didn’t even notice. Now you were the paranoid one, worrying and wondering what Flowey thought of you. Wow, how the tables have turned.

And right as you reached another hall, there was a neon sign that seemed to still be running quite well, explaining where exactly you had finally made it. The wave of heat in the hallway blasted towards you, the humidity on your skin vanishing and beginning to dry your skin almost as fast as a desert sun probably would. However you were thankful that your clothes were still soaked, or you’d be complaining about something else entirely.

You didn’t need to warn Flowey, before you could even open your mouth he simply stretched his vines out and grasped onto you, yanking himself out the slightly dry dirt and practically tucking himself away into your wet shirt. He poked his head out of the collar you two now shared, and even with yourself suddenly turning self-conscious, you didn’t mind his actions. He needed to survive, after all, and back in Snowdin you assured him that he could use you whenever he needed to be moved around in such a way. If where they were headed was as hot and dry as you could tell, Flowey wouldn’t survive travelling through the earth, or at least he would survive just as much as he would in Snowdin-- which was barely.

Just as the blinking neon sign greeted the sentence “WELCOME TO HOTLAND”, he did the same as you continued to walk forward with him, the darkness of Waterfall slowly turning into a blinding bright light at the end of the tunnel. You were squinting your eyes as you kept moving, listening to him introduce your next and final destination “And now Hotland. Alphys’ lab isn’t that far, it’s another straight shot ahead and you’ll be home free...”

You shivered and cringed at the name naturally, however for some reason--

It was a good tingly shiver? Down your spine?

The hell?

Notes:

> This is the end of Waterfall, they will finally be in Hotland, and the half way point of the Underground.> We're establishing the main characters(you, the reader) interests, personality, and they fully explained their background story on why they are who they are. As well as hinting to their secret kinks and interests such as secretly being a weeaboo.> This also means that…

> So much lemon is going to be in the air.> Also worth mentioning i have the outlines for the next 12 chapters ready =w= Just so peeps realize I like to plan ahead and this isn’t just off a whim.

> *whores self out there though that will come out of my break to post another chapter if kudos reach the 65 benchmark*

Summary:

Just looking at him made your stomach back flip, and the thoughts of something else being between the two of you started to roll into your head again, just as they had done before. What feelings were these? They didn’t exactly make sense. Wasn’t this technically Stockholm syndrome?

Chapter Text

Chapter Twelve: Deeper You Fell

You knew it was no use trying to figure out what day it was in a world with no actual way of telling the time. There was absolutely no sun coming down from the ceiling, the last time you saw any at all was at Asriel’s memorial statue. It wasn’t that long ago, either… however you didn’t care for the time of day; you wanted to know how long you’ve been underground so far.

So, when you first fell... you descended at night but woke up and it was morning. Then when you made it to the ruins you slept at Flowey’s place for the rest of the day. That made two days.

So it was either day three or four of being underground.

Great, your week was almost over and you still wondered if you should bother trying to get in contact with someone.

It would be better this way though, Frisk would find out either way, and you’d rather they found out through an “I need help” phone call than you going missing and not being able to reach them. Frisk probably would have known though no matter what, so in the end it didn’t matter. You were rather surprised that you didn’t seem to care for Frisk’s judgement as much as you had in the beginning when you first fell underground. You remember mostly worried about what Frisk would think of all this(and worried about your career) instead of the safety of your own life, but now you were pretty sure your life was safe and sound(pretty sure, you trusted Flowey, right?) And thinking positive, at least you weren’t alone the entire time underground or you probably would have gone insane.

Though, you’re pretty sure you already were.

What? You didn’t think that?

Looking yourself over, you had a sudden wave of self doubt and a feeling of being self conscious, which was funny considering you never cared for looks and appearances, but now you felt dirty, completely destroyed, and ready to clean yourself up. There were so many waves of different emotions and new feelings coming over you, you went from worrying over your job and not about appearances to giving less than two shits about your job and concerned with how you looked.

But it had started since that kiss a few minutes ago.

Suddenly you had butterflies in your stomach(or were they spiders?), bad thoughts in your head, and an undying need to experience it again. You two were going to Alphys’ lab who not only made you curious on her tastes in anime, but made you question your own. You admitted you enjoyed anime and just never got around to watching anything… but why the focus and attention on…. That kind of anime?

Because of that kind of plant, probably.

All the teasing kisses and hugs you had given him only lead to him stealing your first kiss, and now it didn’t feel like playful poking at his nerves anymore. You did it to annoy him, then it lead to him enjoying it and you wanting a confession out of him, and suddenly here you were, the same position as him; wanting more but unable to ask or even put your feelings together in the clustered puzzle that they were. How did that work anyway? Having feelings for a plant that constantly refused his own feelings for himself?

You were so glad you were in Hotland and surrounded by lava, it was a great excuse as to why you were so red and hot under the collar.

Flowey, who was in your shirt and clinging to the dampness, wasn’t an exception. His cheeks were red from the heat too, probably more so the fact that he’s a plant and one false move he could die, but who knows other than him. And he was perfectly silent as he let his tiny leaf arms point every which way to go-- which was just straight ahead and no detouring even when you really wanted to. A nice walk would distract you from your thoughts, but instead every moment you attempted to wander away you found yourself pulled back on track due to a vine you hadn’t realized having stretched itself around your legs through your clothing, leading you back to heading straight. You wanted to object… there were a few times you reminded him of Snowdin and how you two needed to share turns with your body but, this time his reasonings made perfectly good sense:

Alphys’ lab was your best attempt at contacting someone on the surface to help you with an escape plan.

Flowey was a plant and wouldn’t survive the extreme temperatures for long.

It was different in Snowdin because two people could use body heat to keep warm. However, in a hot climate way over 100 degrees... body heat was the last thing the two of you wanted. And the moment your clothes dry up, Flowey would be in far worse danger. So you compromised with him (ie: “Okay, you won’t die while I’m around.”)

It didn’t take you that long to make it to a rather large laboratory that stood out from the rest of the scenery surrounding it. It was a huge metal block, it stuck out like a sore thumb as you two approached. With everything in the reds, browns, and warm colors of the spectrum, the cool and bright gray metal made it feel almost cartoonish.

“This is the lab.” Flowey said, though you gave him a ‘duh’ look that he completely ignored “Besides the Core that runs all the power throughout all of the underground, Alphys has her own generator in the basement. So you should be able to get a signal down there.”

You just hoped that your smartphone still worked, however you recalled it cracking from your fall… and on top of that there being no signal in the ruins whatsoever. It was time to test your luck again, only thankfully you had Flowey with you and not against you.

At least you hoped so.

Once the two of you were right in front of what you suspected was the front door, it automatically opened for you, sliding up and vanishing into the doorway to allow the both of you inside. As soon as you stepped in and away from the door it had shut behind you, and almost immediately Flowey had pressed a button beside it, causing a locking sound to occur. You probably could have believed it to be a trap Flowey had lured you into, and now you were stuck in a lab with him, but a part of you didn’t mind… as your thoughts wandered and roamed and you attempted to force them down.

“Before you think I’m trying to lock you up, don’t flatter yourself.” Flowey reassured you as you walked further into the dirty and trash ridden lab “We can't have heat coming in and out, now can we? Maybe you’d like that but personally I prefer a nice room temperature. Alphys has air conditioning.”

And he was definitely right, with the entrance sealed you could instantly feel the cool air waving over you, and you let out a sigh of acceptance. As your body got more comfortable and adjusted to the new climate change, your soreness returned. Tired, sweaty, and with Flowey still clinging to you, you really wanted to relax and unwind. It wouldn’t hurt to spend the rest of your day calming down after all you’ve gone through, right? And you only napped in waterfall, it wasn’t really much of a sleep and it only got you a little unnerved and scatterbrained. You felt like a truck running on empty.

“The true lab is in the basement.” Flowey commented, however you immediately pushed your ideas forward, interrupting him and commenting quickly “Can we chill for a bit? I’m actually… I feel like I’m ready to collapse, I don’t wanna think about anything for now other than fixing myself up.”

He gave you a peculiar look, mostly of disgust as if you had said something terrible, but you persisted “Please? I’m… thankful you’re wanting to help me, Flowey. I appreciate it, I really do… and I probably wouldn’t of gotten this far without you.” You tried to push in some compliments to get on his good side, which worked since he looked away and his disgust had turned into thoughtfulness. You carried on “But I think if I keep going like this I’ll just die instead of getting out. A day’s worth of a break wouldn’t hurt, right?”

You glanced around the large lab, seeing that all of the objects seemed perfectly intact. A large wide screen television, tables cluttered in paper and trash, and even a whole second floor worth of exploring. The staircases were escalators, and while you felt a bit childish over your ideas of fun, you really wanted to ride them in circles. “Looks like there’s television, and if that works then we can maybe just do some Netflix and chill.”

It took you a moment, but you realized what had just slipped past your lips.

“Ah… it’s a program used on the surface to stream TV shows from the internet, or movies, things like that. When people say Netflix and Chill it’s mostly just hanging out while watching something on TV.”

While doing other things, which made you think back to Alphys’ hentai tastes, and your face heating up even with the pumped on air conditioner. But that also reminded you how badly you were hoping to look through her abandoned belongings.

“Tch. Whatever.” Flowey brushed off your embarrassment and gave a shrug, sliding out from your shirt so that he could wrap himself around your shoulders, no longer needing your damp(well, now closer to being dry than anything) clothes “I guess it wouldn’t hurt. The real lab is just downstairs anyway, not like anything will happen unless we let it.” He looked around before gesturing with his head towards where you saw a fridge and microwave. You figured that’s where he wanted to go, so you walked over to it to let him unravel and slide onto the counter space. He knocked a bit of trash on the floor “I think I can make us something to eat, how about cleaning up all this shit and making this visit better for the both of us, then?”

“Why can’t I cook and you clean?” You tried to suggest, though the moment he gave you a half-lidded disinterested look, you figured the reason why fairly quickly. Oh yeah, no actual way of doing that easily.

He can’t exactly run around cleaning, and you can’t exactly… cook well.

“Fine.” You muttered, looking to the huge garbage can that sat not too far from the tiny bit of kitchen space. You went to it and pulled it over to the center of the room. It felt strange cleaning up someone else’s place, but you also figured it was the least you could do for staying the night. You definitely planned on searching through all of Alphys’ things while and after cleaning, so you found yourself rushing to get your chore done.

The main floor seemed to be the worst of it since it had the most space, it felt almost like it took you an hour or two just to see the floors. Even after having picked up all the plastic wrappers, crumpled papers and discarded trash, you needed to definitely sweep off the dust that had caked itself on the once clean tiles beneath your feet. However with no dustpan or broom available, you figured using your clothing that was now destroyed wouldn’t hurt.

Removing your jacket, you tossed it on the floor and stepped onto it, letting Flowey watch and lay witness to you wiggle and shimmy on top as you swept the best someone like you could do. And then by the time the main floor was clean, you started to smell a rather nice and chickeny smell waft in the air, which in turn made your stomach yell for nourishment. You could have eaten the last cookie and the remainder of your pie slice in your backpack, but you knew that if you got full by other means before Flowey could present whatever it was he had made, he’d probably hurt you.

More so mentally than physically.

“What are you making?” You dared to ask finally, feeling worn out from the first floor alone, though thankful you had finished it. The entire place looked spotless and clean, as if it were still occupied. Of course you still had the upstairs to deal with, but you tried not to think about that considering your stomach kept forcing you to pool saliva in your mouth.

“Alphys only had instant noodles.” Flowey almost sounded frustrated at this, finally presenting two bowls of noodles with some sort of green flaked seasoning on top. You realized that the smell must have been the chicken flavoring packets that he had added with the noodles, and though Flowey was probably upset at the lack of fresh ingredients (considering he was of course such a fancy chef himself) you personally were just starving and couldn’t really complain. You yourself often made the quick meals at home, not knowing how to cook many dishes, and not having much time to cook when you were always working in and out of the office, they became easy, convenient, and delicious.

You figured now was a better time than any to take a break from your cleaning to enjoy the meal presented to you, so you slowly approached and gave Flowey a quick kiss on the forehead “Thanks for dinner.” You said quickly, taking your plate and wandering yourself over to where the giant screened television was at. You had moved so fast that you didn’t get the chance to see Flowey’s reaction, and you hoped that he didn’t get the chance to see yours either.

There was a worn couch sitting in front of the television that, now paying more attention to it, looked more like one of those sci-fi super computers than an actual TV. You made your way to the worn couch and sat upon it. As self conscious as you were feeling about your appearance, your hunger ignored the ideas of sitting on a filthy couch with even more filthy clothing, and you sat there at the powered down television/computer screen while eating the noodles as fast as you could… while also trying not to burn yourself.

You realized you had left Flowey there in the kitchen to himself with his own bowl, though when you looked over he was simply staring down at his bowl almost as if in a trance.

You called to him “Hey Flowjo, do you wanna join me over here?”

Flowey looked up and over towards you, which gave you enough to make you set your bowl down on the newly cleaned floor and walk over to him. You gave him a soft smile, looking around and spotting a rather tiny flower vase perfect for him. You hurried towards it and are thankful to spot some soil inside, however it was quite dry and you knew Flowey wouldn’t exactly enjoy sitting in it. You carried it back towards the sink beside Flowey, turning on the faucet to let a little bit of water inside of the dirt. You didn’t want it to be too dry for him, but you didn’t want him to take in too much water either. Almost on instinct, Flowey was already sprouting his tendrils to take over the flower pot, sinking into the moistened dirt and wiggling to get snug and comfortable in it.

“Thanks.” He said almost half-heartedly, a vine stretching from the soil to wrap around his own bowl of noodles. You then carry his vase back to the couch to take a seat, sitting him beside you.

“This is pretty good.” You commented with a nod, getting comfortable before returning your bowl to your lap to begin eating again “You’re probably the best cook I ever came across.”

You tried not to mention that you’ve overboiled it before in your apartment, as well as burnt it. Instead, you slurped a noodle in response, and he wrinkled his invisible nose to you “Tch, manners much?”

You puffed your cheeks then, chewing while staring at him. Basically taunting his lack of playfulness, you tried to slurp another noodle again, though this time he used a tiny vine to wrap and tug at it, practically pulling it out your mouth. You whined at the stolen food, watching with sadness as he ate it instead. Even as you gave him a deep frown though, suddenly he perked up “Wow you’re right, I really have out done myself.” He started to eat his own bowl then, and you returned to yours. The atmosphere felt a lot better, and brighter, with Flowey eating his meal happily instead of staring at it. That and with all the trash and dirt removed from the area it felt more relaxing. Like a high-tech homestay, you even thought that this was a great research lab for whenever you came back underground. Air-conditioning, all the comforts of a home away from home.

That thought made you halt your eating, wondering to yourself as you stared down at your half empty bowl. If you could find a way to get out of the underground, you knew for sure you would visit not just for research purposes, but for Flowey especially.

There was something about him that you wanted to see… something that you felt he would only show you.

When you returned to focusing on eating, Flowey had already finished off his bowl, and he licked his lips as another sign of approval. “I enjoyed this.” He complimented himself.

You snorted “Oh yeah?” For a second, you were ready to mock that ‘how can you enjoy it if you claim to not have feelings?’ but you let that thought fade away as he looked to you, as if reading your mind. He squinted his beady eyes your way “I know I have trouble feeling things… but I can at least get the jist of what something is connected to.”

You did your best to eat your noodles more quietly now that Flowey was starting to speak in a deeper tone, his words sounded like they were delving deep within himself. You really wanted to set your bowl down to pull out your journal, but you figured the moment you did that then he would lose his train of thought and stop speaking. As if on cue with your thinking process, he started up again “I remember… feeling so passionate for someone, someone who's… never coming back.” He snorted “Which is fine, they don’t deserve to come back, and I wouldn’t want to see them anyway.”

“Chara?” You asked, letting the name slip your lips. His dazed eyes suddenly returned to focus on your own, and you quickly looked down to your food to stuff your face with noodles. Flowey agreed, however, despite your worried expression of being wrong “Yeah, Chara.”

He chuckled, sighing through gritted teeth “The last person I ever felt something so deep for was Chara… my sibling. I used to idolize them, very much so. I looked up to them, we were a tag team duo who never went anywhere without one another, of course everyone wanted to hang out and be with the human child, whether they were my sibling or not… things hadn’t changed at all much for me reputation wise… but with Chara, it felt okay. With them they brought me along even if I wasn’t invited, and they weren’t afraid to tell others that… well… if I couldn’t join then they wouldn’t either. They seemed so selfless then, carefree, never really considering what others thought about them… they just never seemed to care… these were the things I used to admire about Chara but, now… well, Frisk helped me see who they really were.”

He finally set his bowl down on the floor beside the worn couch, it clanked lightly against the hard surface, and at this you took a moment to drink some of the broth in the bowl (knowing fully well you made slurping noises). But as soon as he returned to looking at you, you stopped drinking and quieted down to let him proceed.

“I was an idiot. I was… so dumb, the entire time I called them my best friend, I felt that I truly… well… I thought I loved them and they loved me.” Flowey’s stare had started to get more intense then, he squinted at you almost angrily as if you were the one at fault for all of this “I was nothing more than another tool in some game of theirs, used… just like the rest of my family. Frisk gave me a shitty reality check, and instead of leaving it… I took it. But, that passion, that love, I’ll never feel it again. Whether my love for Chara was true or false, I still haven’t felt that love ever since…”

His expression relaxed, he looked away from you so quick his petals swayed with his motions, and he sighed “Tch. Why am I telling you all this if you don’t even have your dumb journal out?”

You mentally cursed yourself, but Flowey continued as you drank up and finished the rest of your bowl “I’ll clean the dishes, you can clean the upstairs.”

Prepared to protest, you stood up quickly and gathered the dishes. But as soon as you had knelt down to grab Flowey’s off of the floor, he let a vine outstretch to wrap around your wrist. His tongue clicked in a teasing manner, a smirk now gracing his lips “I don’t think so, sweetheart.”

...

SWEETHEART?!

Your entire face heated up instantly, turning you as red as the molten lava just outside of the lab, and you huffed out almost breathlessly “Don’t call me that!”

“Wow, you look like a fucking tomato.” Flowey snickered, teasing still as you yanked your wrist out his grip and hurried the dishes to the sink. If he wanted to wash the dishes so bad then fine! You practically slammed them inside and ran the faucet to let the sink fill up, making it all the more easier for him to do what he apparently did best-- cook and clean dumb dishes!

You returned to him just to transport Flowey from the couch to the sink as you almost growled out “Fine! Just do the dishes! I’ll do everything else I guess!”

“...okay.” He simply agreed, a smile still on his face as you felt his eyes glued to your back all the while you hurried to take the escalators up to the second floor. Even you knew that your sudden outburst was uncalled for. But seriously who was HE to call YOU sweetheart? Of all nicknames in the entire galaxy and, according to Flowey, of all universes with probably billions of different nicknames in each he chooses sweetheart.

For all you knew it was just a name used once, this one time, to get you to snap and it sure as hell worked.

You found yourself not riding and playing around the escalator like you wanted earlier, in the blink of an eye you realized you were sitting there slowly riding it upward on that one step you planted your boots onto. And you held your stomach in an attempt to calm the swarming butterflies. They were your center, your soul pounded like a bass drum in your chest, your face was lit up like a red traffic light, but you knew it was because of the butterflies. You tried to push the feeling off to the side as you had done before, but this time it was a whole lot more difficult. By the time you reached the top floor and stepped off of the escalator, you peeked over the side to look down at Flowey, who was now focused on cleaning the two dishes.

Apparently the perfectionist, he was scrubbing one bowl vigorously, before staring at it for almost a full minute, just before scrubbing it down again.

“Ugh…”

Just looking at him made your stomach backflip, and the thoughts of something else being between the two of you started to roll into your head again, just as they had done before. What feelings were these? They didn’t exactly make sense. Wasn’t this technically Stockholm syndrome?

Right, Flowey confessed to breaking your rope just to watch you fall and hurt yourself. Him being the only one around and the only one to connect to, of course you two easily turned your rocky relationship into a strange and peculiar friendship… which lead to plenty of flirting and now this; Flowey stealing your first kiss and forever mocking you for it.

And after all the torture he’s put you through up to this point, physically and emotionally, now you feel so easily in something with him that it keeps distracting you.

It was definitely something on the Stockholm scale.

You patted your full stomach that kept twirling like a ballerina, trying to walk away from the edge to ignore Flowey who just kept up his repetitive scrubbing patterns. It was time to focus on the second floor, which was more so dusty than it was trashy.

Plenty of shelves that were probably once filled up with books and research, now only had a scarce few amount of dusted over and cobwebbed items. There was another huge table and desk that was also empty other than a few spare crumpled pieces of paper, and there were surprisingly plenty of powerful looking tools specifically made to work on perhaps heavy machinery. There was a strange machine, but it was coated in a rather thick and ancient pink crust. You were mostly excited about the sight of the bed at the opposite side of you, but you figured you’d work your way towards it as a reward for cleaning.

You dusted and scrubbed the floors (after having to go back downstairs to grab your jacket before hurrying back up), made sure the table was clean and all trash was tossed into the tinier trashcan beside the furniture, and then you made your way to the shelves.

As you had expected, there were a few abandoned manga, DVD’s, and VHS’s. Of course some of these cases were empty, which you threw out, but the others were, well, a rather lewd variety… and available for viewing.

You definitely had to remind yourself to check these out later when you were done cleaning, which of course made you all the more in a rush to clean up the area. When you made it to the bed, the blanket and pillows were coated in a thick dust that you had to lift and flick away. It only sent the dust flying all around, and inhaling it caused you to hack up a lung, cough like a smoker, and suddenly you were on a sneezing frenzy. You shoved the sheets back onto the bed, realizing you had made a mistake, and hurried away from the clouds of dust that hovered in the air surrounding you.

Making it to the edge, you peeked down at the second floor to see Flowey was already relaxing on the couch. Apparently now that he was in that flower pot with dirt, he could maneuver around and do things just fine without any assistance. You kept sneezing even as you watched him, and it caught his attention.

He looked up towards you as you hung over the edge of the second floor, making a disgusted face at your sneezing “What the hell is the matter with you? Are you sick?”

You only sneezed in response, only this time it caused you to lose your footing.

You realized that you were standing on a belt strip Alphys probably had installed so she wouldn’t need to walk around so much, but the top floors moving belt wasn’t exactly working, as if it were jammed or broken in some way. You tried to grab ahold of it since there was nothing else you could exactly grab, but the already weakened rubber simply stretched and tore, and you fell down anyway.

With a final sneeze, you landed with a heavy thud and a small yelp. Sniffling as your eyes were squeezed shut.

“Can you try not to toss germs everywhere?” You only heard Flowey insult you, though suddenly it sounded like he was right by your ear “You just cleaned and it’d be a big shame for you to have ta clean up again.”

You opened your eyes, realizing that you weren’t touching the floor. Your were being held almost in a bride-like fashion as two vines cradled you, one tucked under your knees and the other supporting your back. You had hugged your arms to your chest as you sniffled, looking over to realize that the flower pot was still sitting on the couch, but Flowey had stretched himself all the way out towards the kitchen area just to catch you before you fell.

Your face heated up as you tried to give him thanks, but you wound up sneezing again, thankfully covering your mouth in time.

“Charming.” Flowey muttered, finally dropping you in typical Flowey fashion and slowly shrinking himself back towards his flower pot. However, now he kept two vines on either side of him, and though they were almost arm like with how they lifted up the pot, they walked swiftly towards you like legs “Okay, I’ll help you clean so you don’t die on my watch.”

“Anything abandoned for years on end is bound to get a bit of dust.” Flowey said while you picked up his flowerpot and carefully made your way to the escalator again “Alphys was messy before, but the dust isn’t her fault.”

For some reason the thought of dust started to make you feel uneasy, though you tried not to connect it to the fact that when monsters perished they would turn into dust. A monsters ashes were similar to a human's skin, spreading around and getting onto everything-- not that you had seen monster dust before, thankfully. Lucky you.

You were silent, trying to fix the tickle in your nose and your watering eyes as the stairs carried you both upward, and he muttered “Most of the floors done, what the hell was your problem?”

“I wanted to clean the bed.” You whined, sniffing as you simply set Flowey down at the clean table, but kept yourself away from the bed area. You watched as he made his way to the edge of the table closest to where the bed and crumpled sheets were, easily his invisible nose wrinkled in bemusement “Oh, well shit. Okay. You just clean the rest of this trash dump, I’ll take care of this.”

Thankful for the assistance(finally, since he was so against helping before), you returned to the bookshelves to dust and organize whatever books, manga, and films remained in Alphys’ collection, all the while watching Flowey do the same as you had done before with the bed, only from a safer distance. He was lifting each sheet into the air and with a vine stretched out as far away from him as possible and moving like a flick of the wrist, tossing the dust off of it. This would have been easier if there was a washer and dryer available, but you didn’t know whether monsters had those liberties back then. You didn’t want to think about it, but you couldn’t help but wonder how life had been for everyone compared to your own on the surface. Obviously they made do without, considering all their high end technology and magic, but you just wished that monsters and humans never separated in the first place.

But then you wouldn’t of met him.

Your soul pounded against your chest, and you suddenly realized you were holding all of the things found on the shelves in your arms. You looked down to them in confusion, but it was too late. Flowey had made up the bed again after cleaning it, and now his vine was back at you grabbing whatever you had gathered.

“Are these the Netflix things you were talking about?” He asked almost dumbly, ditching you and heading to the escalators on his own. He walked using his vines, and you rushed after him in a flustered fit, upset that he had snatched them and made a run for it “N-No I already told you what Netflix was, this is just some of Alphys’ things she left behind-- maybe we can watch them.”

Suggesting that without knowing what any of them were was such a bad idea. You didn’t even go as far as reading the titles just yet, only seeing their pictures and knowing some of those were definitely not… appropriate to watch between just two ‘friends’.

Friends… right.

“Well there’s power to the TV so we can watch one of these nerd flicks.” Even with Flowey insulting your interests(though mostly they were Alphys’ interests of course) he was reading the descriptions on the back of the movie cases with an arched brow but curious eye. You finally caught up to him just as he bounced his vase onto one of the couch cushions, and with a heavy sigh you sat beside him.

He let the manga drop the the floor, holding up three films before you. But as you reached to grab one, he held it back and away, wiggling it “No, just point and choose one. Which do you want to watch?”

“This is the worst.” You wanted to think that, but you found yourself saying it out loud as you shyly glanced elsewhere.

Flowey snickered “Come on~ you were the one ready for a movie. So just pick one. There’s…”

He started reading the titles which was the worst of all.

“Space Monster Gummi, Naughty Teacher, or….” He seemed to have trouble pronouncing the last one, not that it mattered, your head was getting foggy “Yuuri’s Yuri Experience… Huh. What does... MxM, MxF or FxF stand for? Well. We’ll find out, I suppose.”

You wanted to die, not even sure how to explain this sort of thing to him. Before the first kiss it probably would have been easy, there was nothing more thrilling and hilarious than teasing Flowey who would turn into this blushing bubbly mess of denial before you. But suddenly the tables had turned, he was the bold and forward flower and you were the squirming and embarrassed one.

Probably the exact plot of that MxM ‘Naughty Teacher’ flick.

You tried not to tell him which one you wanted to watch, however apparently you had been staring longingly at one in particular, because suddenly the other two were tossed into the manga pile and he hummed in content “Space Monster it is then~” Before opening the DVD and stretching the disk out towards the giant computer-ish television.

Your breathing hitched, but you did your best to relax, finding an exit to slowly get to the other side of the couch away from Flowey just so you could lean on the armrest.

Space Monster Gummi was exactly as the title claimed it was going to be, about a gummy monster in space. Of course, the reason you stared at the DVD cover for so long as because it had a pink tentacle monster on it with a very scantily dressed human floating in the space beside it. At this point it didn’t matter the gender of the main characters, you were avoiding the whole story like the plague and shifting your gaze between the couch, the floor, or Flowey.

Flowey’s reactions were so naive that it was adorable. You had to admit that some parts of the start of the film were funny, Flowey not getting the jokes was even funnier, but when he would ask what one thing meant you found yourself unable to clarify, or at least lacking the courage to explain to him what ‘bukkake’ truly was.

And then, the moment you had been waiting for and dreading the most. The main character finally was sent up into space on a secret mission that they were told only they could accomplish; and they had to do it alone and for the safety of the planet. Space monsters were invading the earth and replacing all the humans, and it was up to them to destroy the race.

“I haven’t watched many of Alphys’ movies,” Flowey admitted during a somewhat intense fight scene, the spaceship was shooting lazers at meteors to try and avoid crashing into them “The covers all looked terrible, she always had bad taste in things… but I read all these books she had left.”

You glanced down at the pile of manga and films Flowey had dropped, skimming what you could without having to get off the couch (or close to Flowey) to pick through and read. The titles said it all, the covers all included people either holding each other in a romantic kind of way, or in such an intimate and sexual manner that it couldn’t be mistaken for anything else; Porn. Literally everything Alphys had abandoned when leaving to the surface was porn.

All of the things you had found on that shelf, that Flowey took with you, was porn.

And now you were watching porn with him.

And just as that thought crossed your mind, you realized Flowey had admitted to reading all the manga.

Just as he had said he did, and you noticed all Alphys had left were hentai and yuri titles of manga(I won’t ask how you recognize them as such), you realized Flowey knew fully well what the two of you were watching.

He’d seen and read sex scenes plenty of times before, and your whole body was overheating like a microwave.

Your mind was flipping pancakes, your soul pumping on overdrive, and suddenly you were staring at Flowey who was making a cringing face like seeing something that disturbed him.

Turning your head, you knew what it was. Right on the screen, the main character had finally landed on the planet during the time you had been distracted by your own thoughts, but the bottom half of the characters spacesuit had been removed, and the pink octopus-like monster was sliding one gooey tentacle inside of them, pumping swiftly. Lewd and squishy noises escaped the speakers of the super-computer you stared at in horror, as moans escaped the human’s mouth through their round space helmet. Their body was bound, arms forced behind their back by another set of pink slimy tentacles, as the moans of pleasure continued and they were fucked without mercy, but apparently enough to make them squirm and blush in total pleasure.

“Alphys is such a freak.” Flowey was laughing at the scene, he was seriously laughing as you were trying to melt and hide into the dirty couch, hoping your sudden sexual-frustration would hide with you somewhere.

This was it, you were a total weirdo.

Officially and signed on the dotted line, stamped for approval, and shipped out to the underground. Not only had fate granted you the freedom to roam the underground to continue your research and passions…

But fate also decided to let you roam the underground to continue your research and passions with a tentacle plant named Flowey the flower.

Just as you were trying to compose yourself, you tuned back into reality as Flowey was still laughing, all while another tentacle monster wiggled its way towards the main character. The human was trying to act like the sex was an actual fight, announcing “Give me all you’ve got! This is for all the humans of Earth!” Before round two began and suddenly they were being double penetrated from down below. Flowey was trying to catch his breath in between fits of laughter, his laugh was like that of the mad scientist Frankenstein who had just created a monster “This is just disgusting!”

He looked to you with the widest grin, as you looked to him with the shyest and he persisted in his trash talking “No wonder she ditched all this stuff, she didn’t want her new girlfriend to find out what sorta freaky shit she’s into--”

And suddenly his grin froze, and he blinked. “Why is your face so red? Are you still getting sick from the dust earlier?”

There was no way to calm down with so much attention on you, you squeezed yourself as far away from him and to your corner of the couch as you could. But he didn’t seem to understand the point of space or get the hint that you didn’t want to answer, because suddenly his vines were outstretched and wrapping themselves around you, forcing you to face him as you struggled as best as your weakened and hyper sensitive muscles could. You were feeling that tingling sensation all over, the same thing you felt from the kiss, and the same you felt whenever you thought about those times Flowey had pushed a tentacle into your mouth before you two got more acquainted.

You were trying to deny it as he inspected you, but suddenly his smile was gone as he muttered something thoughtfully “You’ve been strange since…” His words trailed off, his vines almost squeezing you tighter as he came to some weird realization “Pheromones.”

You managed to pull away a bit from his grip, not fully, but enough so that you could return your attention to the film. The scene had finally finished, leaving the human in a mess of cotton candy-pink semen and saliva covering their body. You were trying to suppress the thoughts of being turned on by all this when Flowey spoke up again to interrupt your brain’s processing “You smell like… what the hell…” Flowey suddenly snickered, that generic and suspicious snicker that most evil villains gave before explaining their evil intentions “Are you in heat?! Is this actually getting you hot and bothered?!”

You were completely embarrassed now, blushing furiously, Flowey’s tiny grin (though failing to notice the sudden blush on his own cheeks) continuing to mock you even as you tried to hide yourself in the corner, managing to breathe out too huskily for your own good “No! No I’m not in heat you…! Humans-- humans don’t get in heat and I’m sure as hell certain we don’t get pheromones!”

Of course there wasn’t enough evidence to prove that your words were true at least, let alone deny it but for the sake of not being kinkshamed by Flowey you tried to stand your ground.

“I’ve been through hell incase you haven’t noticed!” You blurted then, the smug look on Flowey’s face a signal that you had to keep defending yourself because he sure as hell wasn’t believing a single word you said “My clothes are trashed and you’re probably smelling blood, sweat, and tears! Glad you find that arousing, sicko!” You folded your arms across your chest in a huff, turning your head away from him only to be staring back at the large screen, the main character now defending themselves against another few tentacle monsters heading for them.

“I can’t believe it.” Flowey snickered “You and Alphys are just alike, anime obsessed horndogs too embarrassed to admit your fucked up fantasies… this explains a lot , this is why you seemed so tense every time I mentioned Alphys’ name before… because she had things that interested you and you just couldn’t admit that I was turning you on…”

You tried not to scream “E-Excuse yourself?!”

“No wonder you weren’t afraid of me then!” Flowey snorted a loud laugh, it was almost as if it wasn’t even his voice anymore, but someone else’s. It was hard to believe he could laugh and smile so much in one day “You weren’t scared of me, you were fantasizing about me doing more--”

You wanted to say something, letting out a noise to tell him you were about to stop him in his tracks, but he quickly added “You say you have trouble making friends but, I’m pretty sure you and Alphys have watched a thing or two together on the surface! Wow, didn’t know you were so kinky~” He stuck out his tongue, and you whined out in protest “Flowey stop! I-It isn’t like that at all!”

“Then tell me…” Flowey’s main vine had stretched to reach you across the couch, his face hovered before you even as you tried to back away. Though you could only pull your head back from his so far, before falling off the couch of course. But you didn’t, you did your best not to run away. It wasn’t like you could go anywhere, since for the sake of keeping the AC in the lab the doors were sealed, and there were only so many hiding places. Flowey’s voice was still such a tease, low and seductive, his words rolled of his tongue as his eyes stared into your own “Then tell me, human… what is it like? Hm?”

You two were face to face, and you had trouble returning the gaze as your eyelids grew heavy. Half-lidded and losing focus, your mind was filling with a lustful fog of curiosity and need. And you found yourself only whimpering when suddenly there was something rubbing between your legs. You didn’t dare look down to break the staring match between you two, but you saw Flowey’s vine sliding low, and bobbing up and down, signifying that it was definitely Flowey who was suddenly brushing and teasing between your legs that, now you realized, were what was giving off the smell.

In your bit of excitement and arousal, you found the space between your legs rather damp, and a pleasant and all too familiar scent wafting upward. Basically, the smell of sex.

“What’s this then, hm~?” He continued to question you persistently, your body trembling as the lewd and erotic noises continued to sound from the TV, all the while Flowey rubbed and stroked whatever was between your legs. And the worst part of it was you letting him, after struggling to escape and hide your embarrassment and arousal, you let him do these things to you. You let him feel you, his vine only moving more, and soon enough you caved in and realized your hips had been twitching and moving in time with his own movements.

Repeating his words lowly, Flowey noted your motions with a smile “What’s this?” His tendril slid even further between your legs, mostly making it look as if you were straddling a snake, brushing over your nether-region as it leaked from the arousal of it all. It was obvious what was happening, you weren’t sure why you were suddenly feeling this way (other than the combined mix of anime tentacle porn, lewd background noises, and your perverted mind reeling with ideas that your body reacted to in hopes of it happening in real life). He knew what was happening, but he decided to ask anyway as if to play coy “Haha~ freak. Why are you so wet~?”

“I-It’s nothing!” You blurted, your cheeks were hot, your head was cloudy, and you squirmed from the teasing that continued from his vine. You had gotten so preoccupied with the vine rubbing between your legs, you hadn’t noticed that he had your wrists slowly being wrapped tightly together and held up over your head. With a tiny whimper, probably the tiniest you’ve ever mustered, you shifted yourself onto your back, letting the armrest support your back and pressing your knees tightly together in hopes of stopping him from going any further. Your voice was so weak, but you didn’t dare protest. So many things could go wrong in this situation… Flowey killing you, Flowey not going through with this sexual act… and perhaps worst of all, Flowey teasing you to the edge of bliss only to pull back and not finish what had been started. All the choices would have been bad, but one of them was going to happen no matter what; so you didn’t mutter any form of rejection. Suddenly your legs parted forcefully with his rope-like tendrils.

Flowey snorted a little laugh, apparently what he asked before was a rhetorical question “Well, either you’re so excited just by me touching you like this… or you fucking pissed yourself.” He sneered “Which do you think happened then? Now be honest~”

“F-Flowey…!” You breathed his name as the tendril continued to stroke, flick, wriggle between your legs, easily slipping into your undergarments due to your loosened and ruined pants, to delve and tease further.

Your mind was still trying to process all this. You were about to have sex with a soulless flower.

Flowey’s own face was turning pink, whether he was embarrassed from his own actions or he was starting to get turned on himself you had no clue, but even his voice had turned very… husky, low, and sensual “I’ve never… done this sort of thing before.” He had admitted gently, licking his lips as his eyes suddenly looked into your own. This only caused you to look away as he spoke “You feel really good…” He eyed you almost hungrily “Really really good…”

You wanted to add, more than anything, that it wasn’t like you did this type of thing often either. And also that he was feeling pretty good too-- but you were suddenly lacking in courage. So weak that you could only speak in moans and sighs.

You weren’t sure why you were feeling this way, maybe it was just the heat and pressure of the underground making you think these types of thoughts, at least you were trying to blame something (anything) other than yourself. You couldn’t even tell if this was a fantasy or if it were all really happening, were you lucid dreaming? The rolling of the tendril gliding between your legs made your body squirm and tremble from the pleasure, excitement and embarrassment all rolled into one at the noises that escaped your throat and the human in the film not far from you two. You were only relieved that Flowey let out the same noises as he felt between your legs, rubbing and teasing you in a way that bought himself a strange satisfaction.

“You’re so warm…” Flowey added, now another tendril had slowly appeared, growing before you and leaning forward to get closer to your face, brushing over your lips. It was easy what the plant was implying as it poked and prodded at your bottom lip, and for some reason you found yourself complying too by opening your mouth and letting your tongue flick against the tip of the vine. Mostly out of curiousity of its taste, of what it would be like feeling your tongue along the peculiar vine. Though it wasn’t anything you haven’t done before, at least considering Flowey had used it on you back in the ruins to stop you from speaking… so having gagged on the plant matter before, this was no surprise. Flowey trembled and audibly shivered with enjoyment from your lips, sighing heavily before he simply forced the vine into your mouth fully without warning, filling your mouth with its thickness and having it squirm down your throat. He was having trouble focusing on you now, his eyes were practically rolling back and around instead of exactly on you as you tugged(and gagged) at your restraints, wanting a freedom he was no longer going to give.

Well, not like you’d go anywhere, anyway.

“Your insides are so hot... it’s… overwhelming…” He forced you to deepthroat the vine more, practically causing your body to convulse as he roughly thrusted the vine in and out, forward and back, pounding the back of your throat and making you gag over and over. “I remember… it felt weird… but… I didn’t know what I was feeling.” He mentioned this raspily as if he were losing his voice, referring probably to the same memory you thought back to seconds before on when he had done this to silence you in the ruins. “Now I know… it must have been… pleasure that I was feeling.” Your body was a trembling and sweaty mess now just from the lewd oral alone, the restraints on your wrists only tightened, and the vines parted your legs more and began to press you down into the sofa. The armrest was less comfortable now however, pressing into your back like a rock as Flowey finally gave into his own pleasure, and you to yours. Fucking your mouth and creating noises similar to the ones emitting from the hentai (that still ran in the background mind you), and filling the room with your own ‘show’.

“Can I feel all of you?” He asked softly, chuckling and sighing as he gulped whatever saliva was filling his mouth “All of your insides~ all of your pumping organs… I want to feel all of you…” It was as if he had become possessed by some demon of lust, his once beady black eyes were suddenly widened, hollow, hungry and staring at you almost in a trance. It wasn’t like you could answer him with your mouth occupied, and your body squirming and struggling against not just the restraints, but the pleasure that built up as well, so you were forced to just accept whatever answer he wanted from you; which was an obvious yes.

Excited for the unknown but scared at the same time, he began to expose all of you before him. Your legs were freed, but only so he could peel and tug away your pants, and then soon enough your underwear was pulled down with it. Pulling the underwear away from your legs almost desperately, you were forced to reveal everything to him. Seeing how ‘excited’ you were first hand, the ends of his vines seemed to all sprout medium sized flowers, ones you recognized as… what were they, pagoda primrose? Red ginger? The vine in your mouth pulled out with a ‘pop’ noise, as it too sprouted the same blooming thick flower. You weren’t a botanist-- but either way, they looked all too similar to--

You were suddenly snapped out of your thoughts, your legs had been grabbed again, forced to spread apart after you had hoped he forgot about your exposure. You gasped, practically panting as your mind was torn between chanting ‘yes yes yes!’ and ‘oh dear god no!’ And there wasn’t much else escaping you other than whimpers and inaudible pleas. Suddenly, in a deep voice, almost as if it weren’t even his own, he muttered “If you really want this so bad, then take it.”

And without warning Flowey’s vine shoved itself deep into your lower entrance, the head of the red pulsating flower bud, and all too much of the base and vine. You cried out from the back of your throat, your mouth occupied once more as the vine before returned to shoving itself between your lips, making you unable to let out the crude and somewhat gratifying noises you wanted to its full extent. It wasn’t that you were a virgin, you had sex before, but obviously never had it been with anyone, or in any form, like this. The vine made crude gushing noises as it squirmed inside of you, rubbing and gliding along your inner walls as you wriggled your hips to adjust as best as you could to the plants length and girth. Flowey’s face expressed complete ecstasy, just as much as yours was probably a mixture of the same, and with a pinch of horror from the pain that shot through you firstly. You wished he took more time to prepare you first, but it was Flowey after all, and at the moment his mind wasn’t exactly thinking clearly... Just as bad as yours wasn’t.

As the vine started to fuck you rapidly, it wasn’t the only one. Suddenly another wiggled its way into your already occupied hole, double penetrating you from below as you bounced with each thrust. Your back pounded into the armrest of the couch, your eyes shutting tightly as tears fell and your body was beginning to ache already. Your arms were sore as they remained over your head, your legs spread in a way that made you somewhat thankful you were fit and active(or else they’d be destroyed considering Flowey had them spread wide open as if you were doing the splits). As the two tendrils pounded into you, creating a loud slapping noise as the anime character in the film screamed out in what you assumed was their climax, you found your body slowly converting the rough sexual pain into overstimulated pleasure, and even with gagging on Flowey’s flowered vine, you were moaning against it for release. Suddenly, there were no more cares in the world. The butterflies in your stomach, your shyness, self conscious mind had all been replaced with flowers. A pounding adrenaline rush that made you open your eyes, and the higher the pleasure started to build, the more your vision blurred into a haze of golden flower pollen.

“You should’ve asked for this sooner…!” Flowey breathed out heavily, your eyes tried to focus on his, but they were having trouble concentrating. The tears made your sight blurry, and the pleasure made you want to just let your eyes roll back and enjoy. He continued his teasing, even if you weren’t paying him any mind, his stare fixated on yours and his smile spread wide over his lips “The moment you fell I could’ve fucked you like this…”

Your body was hot and on overdrive, beads of sweat fell over your skin, the few flowers that remained brushing over your body in a teasing manner were leaking fluids from the tips of their flower buds, leaving a sticky mess and dipping you in a scent that was remarkably close to honey. The sweet smells covered the sweat, and you were practically honey-glazed by the time you felt the two tendrils squirming so deep into you, that their bases were brushing and slamming over your sweet spot. You thought the crude act had lasted for hours, but it had only been half of that time(maybe even less) before you let out a silenced cry and climaxed. Your body twitched violently from such a release, your back arched and even with Flowey’s restraints you had pulled yourself from the couch and rolled your hips to ride it out. Your juices practically coating your legs and staining Flowey’s vines in the clear to white substance. He let out a noise similar to satisfaction, but he only responded in grunts and huffs as he kept sliding into your now slippery wetness, your climax officially used as lubricant to keep him going. The heavy smell of sex had never smelled so satisfying to you. The sex you had before was sweat, shame, and the disgusting musk of a one night stand. Right now you were surrounded in, well, milk and honey.

Even after tightening up from the release, your body horribly sensitive and needing time to recover, Flowey kept pumping in and out of you, your mouth filling up with the similar sweet smells that now coated your body, and you drank down the loads of nectar from the vines supposed release. Your gag reflex had vanished from how long he had been fucking your mouth, and the mixture of pleasure, vibrant smells and intense flavors made you feel practically drunk and dazed, on auto-pilot to make him feel just as good as he was making you. Your mind was screaming, your body twitching like a maniac in an asylum, and Flowey’s crazed grin and half lidded stare probably made the two of you look like mental patients for anyone who would dare to walked in on you.

“Hn~ you’re getting tighter~” Flowey teased, though he was completely out of breath as he kept up his antics and movements. You could tell his pleasure was building up as your wrist and leg restraints tightened, making your hands blue from the lack of oxygen and letting your legs match.

“So tight just for me…!” He breathed and cackled. Your eyes half lidded as you gazed over him, you continued drinking the fluids that filled your mouth almost like an infinite nectar fountain, and suddenly you found yourself close to yet another climax. Your eyes had widened more as you mumbled pleadingly, whimpering to Flowey from the sudden rush of pleasure overwhelming you, bringing you up to another mountain of ecstasy. Your muscles only tensed more as he started gasping, his already swift thrusts only growing faster from you tightening up for him. The speed of his motions seemed almost unrealistic, like a crazed and out of control machine as he slammed and pounded into you at mach speed. The rush of the two vines fucking and pounding all too quickly on your sweet spot made you tense up and go crazy. You felt the restraints holding you down pulse, the vines wrapped around your limbs throbbed, and so did the ones inside of your nether regions.

“S-So… fucking…!”

His vines squirmed inside of you, the feeling was so intense that you were at the edge and your mind was starting to slip away. You were literally watching the dark start to creep in around your vision, your mind was failing you and you were at the brink of unconsciousness. Flowey stuck out his tongue, drool practically slipping down his mouth as his eyes stared into yours, almost close to the last face you’d see before being gone.

"You’re mine.” He murmured, a lustful and rather crazy grin appeared on his face as he released everything inside of you. His words brought a rush of excitement to your brain. Whether it was the idea of being dominated by him, or simply the fact that this was your second intense climax, either way your own release was coming in waves as the honey-fluid filled your insides, and finally filled your mouth once more to grant you another taste. The smells were so sweet and the taste just as delicious, you figured after all this you would go into a diabetic shock. Your vision was clouded in a mixture of tears and yellow pollen, was his cum like a hallucinogen? Or were you truly fucked so hard your mind was playing tricks on you? But either way, you were thankful that the dark that tried to creep on you started to subside.

His tentacle plants squirmed more slowly, before finally pulling out of your holes in spurts. The juices from each flower bud sprayed a bit after pulling away, and even some slipped from your hole. Your lips dripped a saliva that left a string connected to his tendril as he pulled out your mouth, and he dared to brush between your legs again to make you twitch before fully letting his vines weakly lower into the couch and floor, limp and draping over anything that they really could, as if he were suddenly too weak to at least retract them. He was gasping for breath, just as hard and heavy as you were.

And of course in good Flowey taste, he released your binding vines so suddenly, causing you to completely fall fully onto the couch, and then topple over onto the floor. Your entire body was aching, the fluids he spilled inside of you pouring out as you coughed and drank whatever was left in your mouth. You panted heavily, shifting a bit to get more comfortable, before simply deciding to lie there on the ground. Your undergarments and pants were officially discarded, your entire body exposed and in a mess, but you didn’t feel like covering yourself either. You simply shivered as the heat and warmth subsided, leaving you in a cold and trembling mess of his bodily fluids, and yours. Your shirt did absolutely nothing in warming you, it was basically like it wasn’t even there.

It wasn’t expected that Flowey would suddenly appear beside you. You half-heartedly anticipated his disappearance after having had his fill with you(and of course having filled you), because it was so common of him to feel flustered after being caught in any other emotion other than hatred and disgust. The passion and excitement he had revealed to you was rather exposing, respectfully you both showed yourselves to one another in such a lewd and rather embarrassing manner you thought it would only make sense for the two of you to hide from one another in shame. So when he suddenly showed his face to you instead of disappearing, your heart somewhat fluttered. You lied on your back against the cool metallic floor tile, now nothing but static emitted from the television to signal that the movie had long since finished, probably before the two of you finished as well, leaving the silent room to be filled with white noise as you were catching your breath and watching Flowey’s movements. As you did so, he wrapped his vines weakly around your body, almost as a sort of careful hug. He curled them over your nakedness, and the plants were surprisingly warm.

You gave a small smile, your face as flushed as his as he looked at you without even saying a word. There was something about being held like this by him that made you rather happy, it was leaving a fluttering in your chest and stomach. You found yourself tiredly staring at him, silent as he returned the same sort of gaze. A lacking of a soul never made people lose all of their emotions and feelings, this was total proof. Whether he was having trouble even telling what he was feeling, it meant he could still feel it. With the strength he had left, he lifted your body back onto the sofa, an attempt to get you comfortable. Your head laid back against the armrest, though your lower half exposed before him, he had quickly wrapped more vines around you as an attempt to cover you up.

“Thanks.” You managed finally, slowly closing your eyes and almost immediately falling into a warm and comfortable slumber.

Notes:

> I did my best to make the main character as gender fluid/neutral as possible (hence why I never mentioned what ‘hole’ Flowey was banging)> But I feel like it ended up looking moreso like one gender than the other, which I apologize for I dunno how to make it more neutral than that.> But I hope you guys enjoyed, time for me to focus on art and writing other projects for awhile.> I will never ask for kudos again lolol

Summary:

All your senses were clouded and drowned out with the taste and smell of honey, that drunken feeling came over you like it had done yesterday as gold pollen began to float and dance around the two of you and in your only line of sight.

You nodded though, you agreed with him.

Notes:

> LEMONY FRESHNESS OK YOUVE BEEN WARNED

> See it wasn't such a long break, to be honest I have the chapter after this being edited out and then the next after that in the making.> My break was mostly to focus on the dating sim project and life in general, but also because I got inspired to work on another chaptered UT fic.> Maybe you'll see it soon, who knows.

Chapter Text

Chapter Thirteen: Your Soul Started To Swell

You woke up with a start, you sat up rather quickly from your sleeping position and rubbed your eyes to remove the haze that clouded your vision. Your body was aching, but it wasn’t terrible enough that you couldn’t move. With a light sigh of relief, and a small yawn escaping your lips, you finally took a moment to look at where you were and focus on reality. This was the first time since you fell underground that you managed to actually sleep and not be attacked by dreams(or nightmares, in your case), so you felt fairly well-rested. Though when you realized you weren’t on the couch, you arched a brow as you looked down over yourself.

Well, Flowey had moved you into bed it seemed; considering last you recalled you fell asleep on the couch wrapped up in his surprisingly warm vines. Even though you remembered being naked from the waist down, you thought your shirt had been left on… but now you were totally bare underneath the blankets; shirtless, pantless, and underwear...less. The reality of the situation hadn’t hit you all just yet, so you shrugged it off and carefully lifted the lightly dusty blankets off of your body to rest your legs over the edge of the bed. Your head was groggy, your body heavy, but there still wasn’t any sort of physical pain. To be honest, you were feeling quite light, almost like you could float away at the faintest of breezes. From this thought alone you smiled a tiny bit, before finally standing to your feet.

Well, you tried at least.

Your legs felt like noodles on impact, and you fell onto the floor with a shaky stumble. Muttering something incoherent under your breath when your knees had slammed into the tile, you grasped the edge of the bed for support and carefully lifted yourself back up to stand and compose yourself. You could barely feel your legs, they shook and trembled as you put the rest of your weight on them, and your tailbone, let alone your pelvis, were rather sore.

And that was when the reality of the situation finally hit you.

Dear god, you and Flowey had sex.

You fucked a flower.

Your knees buckled, but not before you made a small and uncomfortable noise as fluids leaked from your nether region. Only a small amount had slid down your inner thigh, but it was still enough to release that strong golden honey scent that instantly brought flashbacks through your brain of the events prior to your awakening. Had you been at Alphys’ for a whole day now? Or did you wake up only later on in the night?

Time was starting to fade away, just like your sanity. You knew you had strong feelings for Flowey at this point but you didn't understand how they became that strong. You two bonded over your pasts, both of them being somewhat traumatic, and sure there had been a crap ton of flirting but that didn’t necessarily--

Your body twitched as more fluid ran down your leg, and you sighed out in embarrassment, secretly thanking some higher power for Flowey not being available to watch.

Flowey was nowhere to be found, thankfully, but you had to clean up… wherever the shower may be.

You glanced around the upper floor of Alphys’ lab, all too excited that you had cleaned the place up or else it would’ve been impossible to find anything anywhere. But finally not too far from where you stood there was a door with a fairly old piece of paper that had been taped to the front, reading ‘real bathroom’, and you thought nothing of it as you wobbled yourself there. The automatic door slid itself open at your approach, and as soon as you stepped through, you locked the door behind you once it closed and leaned your back against it. Gazing around the dimly lit restroom, you smiled at the sight of the shower, as well as the toilet and of course a sink… as dirty as the place appeared, you needed to clean up and now wasn’t the best time to complain about filth… considering you were total trash.

Sorry, right… no kinkshame zone.

The water worked of course. Running water wasn’t a fear you had, unlike at Flowey’s home in the ruins when even the sink wouldn’t turn on. Flowey after all made you instant noodles yesterday(or earlier today? You still had no idea), he had to have gotten the water from somewhere. So as soon as you stepped inside and turned the knob, the water ran from the shower head and let the cold bathe you. You shivered, trying to adjust the temperature a bit, until finally you managed to catch the perfect setting and just stood there in the water for a good long while. Mentally slapping yourself of course, but letting your skin absorb the clean liquid as it removed the… unclean fluids from your body. Your mind raced in wonder, the same confusion that hit you when you were about to begin your sexcapade with Flowey… the positive and the negative collided in your brain, resulting in you questioning “why would you do something so dumb?!” as well as “why didn't you survive for round three?!”

It was easy to think to yourself that it all felt terribly satisfying and good. Just hard to admit these thoughts aloud, even to yourself.

You two had ‘officially’ connected, at least on a physical level since you both were still getting through the mental connections. Sharing each other’s stories and worlds, letting them collide through conversation, and now it had lead to the both of you watching inappropriate anime together and having sex during it. You knew what those feelings were finally, the ones you had kept pushing away since the kiss he had planted on your lips at the end of waterfall(which was not too long ago mind you). You knew that even though it had only been probably just half a week of being underground, you felt something for Flowey that you never felt with anyone else.

But on top of that, it was a terrifying feeling. Caring for someone who believed they could never care for you in the same way… and not only that, but you would be returning to the surface without him.

There had to have been some way to bring him up with you, right? There had to have been… but, Frisk’s words in the echo flower rang through your head as a reminder that there was a promise they swore to keep, they had promised Asriel.. and Flowey… that they would keep the monsters and humans safe. And they would remain as such only for as long as Flowey remained underground.

Your soul ached, but it also yearned. There had to have been a way....

And finally you got to work on yourself.

There wasn’t much soap available, but you scrubbed yourself down anyway to the best of your ability. Letting the water run through your hair, rubbing your face and eyes of the tiredness, and cleaning yourself up as a whole so you would be more refreshed and awake. Your body remained sore even after you had finished your shower, but you were thankful for it nonetheless as you turned it off and stepped out.

You couldn’t find a towel, however you found an old rag in the corner of the bathroom that you hesitantly used to dry off before heading back out in your naked glory to hunt for your clothes. You hadn’t realized it at first, but soon enough you found them folded quite neatly on the desk. Approaching them however reminded you of how filthy they were. Dirty and worn from your rather long journey to Hotland, and a bit torn due to Flowey discarding them a bit recklessly before the two of you got down to business. There was, honestly, no point in even trying to wear them. So you went over to what you noticed to be an abandoned armoire, and opened it up quickly in hopes of finding something. At this point, anything was wearable.

A cloud of dust filled the air before you, but thankfully you avoided it quite well with a wave of your hand to let it vanish before returning to focus on what remained inside. Two lab jackets (one more of a faded yellow than the other), a striped shirt (yellow and orange, that looked more big than your actual size) and a pair of shorts(that would look mostly like pants on you). In no position to complain, you gathered what you could and went to lay them out on the bed before changing.

It was while you were sliding the shirt over your head, after you had pulled on the pants and rolled the legs up to perform as shorts, that you heard sound coming from downstairs. With no doubt in your mind that it was probably Flowey, you slid on the lab coat. In a place like Hotland, you didn’t exactly need to wear it, but you figured it wouldn’t hurt to have just in case. You let your boots remain by the bed when you noticed they had been placed there, but you knew you would grab them later when the two of you headed into the basement to find the ‘true lab’ as Flowey had put it.

As you stepped on the escalators that directed you downward, you wondered how you could even bring up what had happened between the two of you. The only type of sex you ever had were one night stands, nothing as intimate as what you felt occurred between you and Flowey (even if it was mostly him teasing you verbally and ‘claiming you as his’ like some object). On the surface during these situations, you found yourself gathering your things and leaving without the bat of an eye the morning after, if it was with acquaintances or people you knew it didn’t change anything between the two of you. After sex you figured that was when you were more comfortable and open with someone because you bared all and there was nothing else to hide(the exception of personal histories and etc.) ...and yet as you continued riding the escalator downward to greet Flowey, you were concerned about saying something dumb to him. You knew now why you were like this, but the real question was about Flowey. Would he be acting the same silly way as you were?

To be honest, probably not.

The closer you got to the main floor, the louder the noises became. They were coming from the television, and suddenly you could make out exactly what they were. Moans, passionate screams, and pleads… definitely two persons doing the do, and you couldn’t help but snicker. For a plant that had mocked you for your tastes in kinks(before banging you into the couch), it was hilarious imagining Flowey casually picking another porn to watch all on his own. Did last night inspire him in some way? Now you were curious if what had happened released some inner sex beast just--

Okay, stop.

You finally stepped off the escalator with a deep inhale, and a slow exhale of your breath.

One night stands were easier to handle, there was no intimacy involved, it was just sex. Bing bang boom and scene then strut away from the situation-- but you couldn’t exactly do that with Flowey… and even if you could, you didn’t want to.

You didn’t make your way to him just yet, the flower was so focused on the screen that he hadn’t even noticed your appearance into the room. The moans in the background continued, and his facial expression was all too comical considering instead of smiling or laughing at parts like he had done yesterday, he had a rather serious focus on this one in particular. It looked almost as if he were studying it, observing their reactions and things of that nature. Perhaps he was taking this moment to see how certain feelings worked?

Flowey’s beady eyes and stiff lip stared onward, and you carefully made your way to the kitchen to rummage the fridge without daring to interrupt him.

Opening the door with a grunt, you peeked inside to, well, find plenty of instant noodle packets. They didn’t need to be refrigerated so it made no sense that they were, but there was nothing else in the fridge for breakfast… or dinner… whatever time it was. You were officially giving up on keeping track of your time, and with a sigh, you shut the fridge door. You were craving something similar to pancakes, but with these ingredients that obviously wasn’t going to happen.

Another reason why you needed to get back to the surface. You’d never take any food for granted ever again.

“Morning.” He said almost lazily, as if he were the one to have just woken up, and answered the question you’ve been thinking about all… morning, apparently. So it was now morning, meaning another day had been spent. It wasn’t as relaxing yesterday as you had hoped, but it was better than not doing anything at all you supposed… so you shrugged it off in the back of your mind.

“Howdy.” You mocked, smirking at his disinterest as he looked back to the TV. However, it was only to turn it off, suddenly the silence was deafening.

“Did you sleep okay?” Flowey asked as you decided to take a seat on the table near the tiny kitchen space. You gave a small nod, looking over the empty table to distract yourself from thinking about Flowey with his tongue hanging out and drool escaping his mouth. “Yeah, I slept fine, thanks for taking me there… I must’ve been heavy.”

“Not… really.” Flowey defended you surprisingly, and you found your face heating up as he continued “You were pretty light, it’s easy to carry you around. Especially when you’re unconscious and not fighting back.”

Was he trying to flatter you or creep you out?

Unsure about whether he was just saying that because the two of you had sex, or whether he was saying that in truth, made you wrinkle your nose. His vines wobbled when lifting you on that ledge before too, so you were assuming that he was probably… possibly… a liar.

It wasn’t that you were that self conscious about your weight either, simply that you recalled him referring to it a few times as well as struggling with it, and suddenly he claimed you weren’t heavy at all.

Who knows, perhaps his sexual frustration gave him strength that had been locked away.

Trying to think of something else to say, you finally showed him a smile, that rather quickly made his cheeks redden “So, watching more freaky movies I see?” You let your smile get somewhat smug “For someone who was mocking me and Alphys yesterday, it’s really interesting seeing you watch this stuff on your own. You should turn it back on so I can figure out what to kinkshame you for.”

Your little teasing and poke at him didn’t exactly have any effect, however. Flowey returned your smirk with his own, it was even more mocking than yours, and suddenly he lifted his flower pot with the two vines that sprouted on either side of him, and swiftly swung himself over. It was a surprisingly far swing, if he were a human you would have assumed he was apart of the Olympics from how large of a leap he took to get from the couch to where you were. With you sitting on the table, him suddenly landing pot first against the edge and right next to you made you jump and practically fall forward. But on cue, Flowey used one vine to balance himself on the table, and another to wrap around your torso and slam you backward against the furniture, your back planting itself onto the surface of the solid space with a heavy thud. You whimpered, opening your mouth to protest, only for it to be hushed by a vine covering your lips. Flowey snickered as his face hovered over yours so you could see him clear enough, even with your head up towards the ceiling “You were so into our rendezvous yesterday, I was merely picking up other… suggestions.” As he pulled the vine away to allow you to speak, you breathed out in confusion “Suggestions? For what?”

You weren’t sure exactly what he was talking about, though the mentioning of a playground did bring you back to when you first visited Flowey’s home in the ruins. He had referred the underground to his ‘playground’, and even said he didn’t mind you being apart of it. You felt a strange feeling in your gut however from the fact that he suddenly claimed it to not just be his own, but yours as well. What did that mean? Did he accept you as a friend? Did he accept you as… more than that?

Your heart raced, and his face only moved closer, his hungry eyes gazing deeply into yours “Nice clothes. But I took them off yesterday for a reason, so can you just keep it that way?”

Your mind reeled as fast as your heart pounded from Flowey’s sudden release of your bindings that held you down, but only for him to start tugging the lab coat off of you. He did it swiftly and very successfully, and even tossed it away just as he had done to your clothing yesterday.

He was ready for round two-- after you had just woken up and were still trying to comprehend what the hell was happening between you both. Flowey had gone from an embarrassed and coy tsundere trying to kill you, to a hungry lecher craving some sexual fix at the sight of you? At least… from what you can tell. It had only been a day of his newfound limbido, and yours considering you hadn’t banged in forever and a half and were finding yourself secretly trembling with lust.

However when you tried to regain focus on the current situation due to your constantly wandering mind, Flowey was already undoing your pants.

“I just showered! Geeze!” You yelped finally, squirming out of his grip and managing to hurry from the table to the couch. Almost like a child, you maneuvered behind it to try and hide, though peeking over the top to look at him from a safer distance “You made a huge mess of me yesterday! I was leaking when I got up and I could barely walk! You think I wanna go through that again twice in a row?!” Not to mention your legs were already getting wobbly on you like they had before.

“What, you think I haven’t had to clean up myself from your own mess?” He continued his rather lustrous smile, glancing your way and not bothering to move from his spot. Though he had tossed the labcoat away, suddenly he needed to occupy his vines for whatever reason and had picked it back up from the floor just to fold it neatly and set it on the bit of counter space beside the kitchen sink “And besides, I was only gonna examine you~ for any damage, of course. I know I got carried away yesterday, last thing I want is my favorite toy to be damaged.”

So now you were some inanimate object… well, at least you were supposedly his ‘favorite’.

Knowing fully well he was bad at lying, thanks to your experiments on him pretending to not enjoy your kisses in the beginning, for some reason you still felt inclined to oblige. His demands were ridiculous, you were laughing at yourself as you moved from behind the couch and carefully, slowly, made your way back to the table near the kitchen. Flowey patted the top of it with a vine, a cheeky grin replacing his lustful one “Take off your clothes and lie on your stomach, okay? It’ll be quick I promise.”

“I feel fine though.” You said, though you looked down at yourself as you obeyed and began to strip before him. Lifting your shirt overhead to reveal your chest, and then wiggling out of your pant-shorts to reveal everything else you had to show. For some reason you found it almost too natural to obey his demands. And like he had done with the lab coat, you folded them up and set them on top of the counter space, before carefully climbing onto the table to lay yourself flat on it. Resting your cheek against its surprisingly smooth surface and showing him the bare backside of your body, as the front side relaxed over the top of the table. “Nothing’s wrong.” You added, trying to brush off the uneasy feeling. You still smelled a faint trace of honey wafting in the air, only assuming that it must have been coming from Flowey considering you had showered and scrubbed yourself down enough to remove those traces.

The fact that it was even in the air made you realize that-- well, mistakes have been made.

It was too late for your brain, any scent of honey made you think of sex.

“Doesn’t mean I can’t check up on your health.” He muttered finally, though not being able to see him, you had no idea what he was now doing behind you. You just closed your eyes and tried your best to prepare for the unknown. His voice almost sounded teasing, like he was mostly making fun of your naivety than anything. Which made sense, considering the position you were currently in. “Just think of me as your doctor~ and you as the patient~ you’ll be alright… you’re in good hands.”

You snorted “Don’t you mean in good plants?”

He seemed to groan at this, whether it was a positive or negative groan however you couldn’t wrap your finger around.

You couldn’t help it, it was right there. You snickered at your own joke, but as soon as he muttered “Yeah~” in response to it, you felt something poke the spot you definitely didn’t think to get poked. The familiar feeling of a vine brushing between your legs, before sliding between your buttcheeks in a slow and even pace-- your body immediately got hot. The sticky feeling returned, and you realized that it had definitely been Flowey who had released more of his sweet nectar, considering you could already feel it on your skin as his vine continued brushing and prodding behind you.

You parted your lips and breathed out his name, trying to plead for him to give you a break. Yesterday had worn you out, you were still sore, and you would much rather do something else to pass the time than have another round of ‘fuck the flower’. Didn’t the two of you plan on going downstairs into the basement anyway? What good would it do to have more sex at this point?

Though, for some reason, all that escaped your throat was a low groan as the vine(surprisingly already fully budded) slid slow and deep inside of you from behind. You whined, the deepness of the wriggling vine inside of you making your body squirm and try to adjust, and as you did so he continued the excruciatingly slow pace of taking your ass. The thick and roughly textured tendril slid itself back out, only to slam deep into you, the rhythm and pattern continuing evenly… slowly pulling out, ramming back inside, slowly pulling out and then shoving it deep inside... granting you a slow and surprisingly gentle fuck unlike yesterday.

“I won’t hurt you…” Flowey reassured you, his words as shaky and soft as his breathing, his head slowly tucked into the crook of your neck just so he could nibble and chew along your skin softly. The biting was rather ticklish, but the combination of being tickled and pleasured only made it turn you on, more so than you already were. Too easily you became slick for him, but even with his vine sliding more fluently in and out of your rear end, his pace remained slow and deep, rocking your body back and forth as if you were grinding against the table itself, as more vines wrapped around you gently yet firmly. And then almost as if you were his own personal doll, he lifted you up by your hips, letting your ass lift in the air so you sat on your knees, but pressing a weight on your back so that your chest and face remained pressed into the table. He bit harder into your neck, but it only sent a surge of sexual hunger through you like electricity. You found yourself craving for the same rough sex as yesterday, but let out a whimper instead of a request.

Either way, he was right, you weren’t feeling any sort of pain so the check up was going swell.

And of course you were enjoying yourself.

Ashamed sure, but enjoying yourself.

Sensual and pleasurable, your body tingled all over from the strange sensations that continued to surge through you. Your toes curled as he grinded inside of you, the tendrils had only gotten thicker while delved into your hole, and you could feel the flower buds from within twitch and spurt the slightest bit of nectar, perhaps similar to precum, against your recently cleaned walls. You had been clean moments ago, and now you were once again a hot and sweaty mess of a human getting banged on a kitchen table by a flower.

What was he to you? Who were you to him?

The fact that you two still hadn’t figured it out was too concerning, but the thoughts were suddenly rattled out your brain when the tip of his vine slammed into your sweet spot.

That spot alone made you cry out from the sudden pleasure, your fingers curled in an attempt to grip at the table top beneath you, however to no avail and to only find your nails scraping whatever you could. The loud moan that had escaped you so suddenly gave Flowey the go ahead to coo at your excitement, a tiny laugh in mockery as he breathed into your ear, and suddenly all hell broke loose.

His restraints and hold on you tightened up to give you the all too familiar performance of yesterday; commanding, controlling, and suddenly he had pulled the vine out from inside you so fast that the red flower tip from the bud made a ‘popping’ noise. You didn’t want to beg him for release, and you didn’t plan on it either if that was why he was holding back. Unlike most who would turn into a horny pile of mush and start verbally begging to get fucked, you did quite well with walking it off. Your world didn’t revolve around these sorts of acts, so what use was it to try and get it in? (Not that now was a good example) Your body tensed, feeling strangely empty, but ready to play it off the moment he asked for you to beg.

Well, you’d beg mentally… but never out loud, of course.

“Hm… I found something that seemed to be bothering you~” Flowey teased, returning to his little roleplay as you took the time to catch your breath “What was that scream just now? Was that pain? I’m sorry~” He pressed a little peck to your neck, making your body jolt “That little area made you scream, see? And you thought I had no idea what I was doing, tch… see, never doubt me, sweetheart. You might find yourself in a really fucked up situation.”

The guy who hates you using puns but only allows himself to use them. And at the worst moments in time.

The red flower squeezed its honey fluids on your entrance, you found yourself closing your eyes as you tried to subtly part your legs, and after having coated all of your bottom as well as your inner thighs, he slipped the flower inside of you again, and then pushed more of the vine deeper within. Flowey shuddered, groaning weakly as he hissed through clenched teeth “Hn… yeah, let the doctor take care of you…” The sensual and agonizingly slow motions returned, his voice wavering from the pleasures he was feeling just like you “You belong to me. Like this, I’ll take care of you...”

The possessiveness had begun as well, just as the slow pattern had. With each pull out, the tendril shoved itself deeper inside, back and forth, as he repeated his demands into your ear and against your neck. Quite certain he was marking your neck all over as much as he had marked your ass and now was about to mark your insides. You could only imagine you would be a walking honey pot by the end of your journey, coated in Flowey’s scent no matter how much you scrubbed and cleaned. Your heart raced though, the thought of Flowey ‘owning’ you made your body tremble, and after such a long while of being slow fucked in this strange yet deep and ‘romantical’ moment, you realized you got excited over it all. You got a soulless flower to become obsessed with you, and you with him. Nothing better than proving someone wrong, right?

It was against your morals to rub it in but, with Flowey doing it to you you figured it wouldn’t hurt this once.

“I-I knew you could feel things…” You managed breathlessly, and with a soft laugh escaping you almost too similar to a sigh. Flowey had chuckled lowly just as so, his movements had stopped for a moment, leaving his vine deep inside of you, and letting it squirm and wiggle against your sticky walls to leave you being teased and toyed with as he spoke into your ear “Well of course I can… I’m feeling you up, aren’t I?”

Flowey snorted “Well, more than that at this point.”

Your body finally twitched, the flower head slammed into your sweet spot in time with your muscles tightening. This was the time you wanted him to fuck you like crazy; your back arched naturally and you parted your legs more just so he had better access, and you could feel your own drool beginning to pool against the table you pressed your face into. You did your best to raise your hips more but-- he kept his slow yet deep pace. For a flower who had claimed to have never done this type of thing before, he had way too much self control. You were going insane, but you were reaching a slow build-up climax, your body trembling in preparation to what was about to happen. You weren’t gonna beg… you weren’t gonna beg--

And this time you announced it, you breathed out how close you were to your finish, and Flowey could hear perfectly fine since he was right next to your face making out with your neck. He pulled your flesh with his teeth then, smacking his lips as he released your neck, and suddenly he made certain that you two had made eye contact as you reached the finish line. With a smaller vine, he wrapped it around your head to make you keep your face focused on only him, and your eyes naturally did not dare to look away as you could feel the sweet pleasure of release aiming for your nether regions. His smug smile that had been stuck on his face during this entire slow-sex session had vanished and been replaced with an all too serious look of contentment. It was like a sense of longing, like he searched your eyes for something more, something he had been searching for for a really long time. Even as he spoke up, his serious expression hadn’t changed. Flowey suddenly demanded “Kiss me.” in a soft whisper, before you found yourself doing as you were told, leaning your head forward(as best as a vine restrained human can) and you kissed him.

The second kiss you two had ever shared, and the second kiss in your entire life. One night stands were completely useless at this point, you knew you’d never have them again because they wouldn’t bring you the pleasure you felt from Flowey’s kisses alone. A thousand humans in a huge fuck fest didn’t even compare to Flowey and his, well, everything.

If you had known this was what it would feel like to kiss someone, you would have kissed plenty of times before; hell you would’ve made out with all the people you’ve ever had sex with-- but for some reason you never felt a need to kiss anyone before, let alone during something as dirty and sloppy as sex.

And while the first kiss you and Flowey shared had been a mistake on his part, this time this kiss wasn’t an accident. It was more intimate, deep and passionate as the flower inside of you pulsed and your body quivered in ecstasy. Your moans were drowned out by his kiss, inaudible and simple mutters and mumbles against his soft face. All you could do was open your mouth against his in hopes of your excitable noises being heard, but you were easily silenced once more with his tongue wrapping around yours, exploring your mouth. His tongue was as vine-like as the rest of him, but it tasted just like the honey nectar seed that he had splashed in your mouth yesterday, the same smell that floated in the air around you. His tongue vine slid deeper and around your mouth, practically making you choke and swallow it down, your gag reflex making you twitch and grunt as you finally closed your eyes tightly to focus on the pleasure again.

The plant had searched through your mouth as if hunting for something, grunting and sighing with you as your body tensed up more and started to tremble. He managed to let out a small noise before having the audacity to inform you “I’m gonna come inside…” Adding a chuckle and breathless sigh “I’m gonna fill you up to the brim buttercup~ you’ll make such a mess again~ but try not to spill so much this time, hm?”

Your climax was finally here, your muscles squeezed against the plant matter inside of your lower body, and even with your restraints that behaved like puppet strings to keep you in place, you rolled your hips against the vine in desperation for release. Rolled and moved them to make him go deeper, even if he refused to give up his slow and agonizing pace, you were definitely going to finish now. But he still clung to you, keeping your head still and against his, and even using his tiny leaves to cup your cheeks just to deepen the kiss and let his tongue-like vine slip further down your throat.

You moaned against him, he mumbled against you, the exact words he had said though you couldn’t remember as you finally reached your release with a heavy sigh, his tongue sliding down your throat and grinding in your mouth as much as he did your nether regions. The tendrils curled, stiffened, but fluidly wriggled along your walls while your orgasm calmed. And just as you had relaxed, suddenly his climax came in waves. You didn’t get a chance to catch your breath as the honey-jizz filled you up to the brim and, as he had said for you not to do, caused a bit to spill. And even as the flower pulled out quickly after he had filled you, it only sprayed more along your back and ass before fully retracting and letting his tongue pull away from your lips too. He took in a few soft breaths, lightly panting as you began your own quest for air, but he kept a now gentler hold of your face. Flowey’s tongue remained hanging out, his eyes closed, probably trying to compose himself as much as you were, before he finally returned his tongue inside his own mouth and smirked towards you, half-lidded eyes gazing over your features. His dominant tone returned, repeating his possessive antics “You’re mine… don’t forget that.”

Your heart was pounding so hard against your chest, you were concerned about getting a heart attack. All your senses were clouded and drowned out with the taste and smell of honey, that drunken feeling came over you like it had done yesterday as gold pollen began to float and dance around the two of you and in your only line of sight.

You nodded though, you agreed with him.

You simply agreed and nodded quick as he flipped you over onto your back. Finding yourself mumbling ‘yes’ under your breath like a drone who had lost their mind, you even thought his laugh was rather charming, no matter how low and groggy it sounded as he went down on you to ‘clean up his mess’.

But none of it mattered, you felt so high that the world was spinning and you tried to focus on the ceiling even if it was falling down around you. The smell of honey filled your nostrils and fogged your brain, and he fucked you again for round three… though apparently with his mouth this time.

You couldn’t recall ever receiving oral this good before. And already sensitive and not having fully recovered from your last orgasm, this one felt a tinge more painful and came all too quickly. The golden flower wasn’t a fan of you touching his head either to push him more into your crotch, because as you felt your climax build after only a few mere minutes, you were prepared to slam him down into you-- however that was halted. With invisible brows furrowed in a sort of glare up to you, his vines grasped at your wrists and held you down, only permitting you to let your legs squeeze on either side of him before finding release. Slow, deep, and intense like before. Face to face, your arms over your head and tied down, as he watched you make those ‘passionate’ faces you made.

Was this really it? You belonged to Flowey and he wanted you as some sort of sex toy?

This was your fault, you found the dumb fetish movies and decided to lead him to them, and now he was addicted.

After Flowey had ‘cleaned you up’, you found yourself in need of another shower.

Thankfully you convinced him to not join you (because you both knew that it was only him asking for round four), so you took your folded clothes and made your way back up the escalators to return to the real bathroom (for some reason the one on the main floor wasn’t exactly opening). You watched him as you were being carried upward by the moving steps, Flowey had returned himself to the couch to flip on the television and the erotic sounds filled the lab again. You had a mixture of bemusement and disgust before he was finally out of your line of sight and you hurried your way to the restroom, clenching as best as you could as to not leak anything like you had done earlier.

Surprisingly, you found yourself thankful that he had been in a slow and gentle mood, since your legs weren’t in a wobbly or weakened state, and you didn’t need to concern yourself with collapsing in the shower. You made sure to especially lock the door to the bathroom so he couldn’t sneak up on you, and you sat on the toilet as you prepped the shower; leaving it running so that the water could get hotter.

Left alone to ponder the choices you’ve made so far.

Once more, you felt hurt and concerned about leaving him, truly trying to think of some way for Frisk to perhaps let Flowey free after you explain how much he’s helped you. There had to be some way for him to join you, for the two of you to go home together. You were embarrassed to admit it, even to yourself… but you were already feeling ready to see how this ‘relationship’ could go. You had never exactly been in one before, but you could only imagine that this is how it felt to truly care enough about someone to… well… walk hand in hand(well, vine in hand) and go on dates and random romantic spots together. Wandering the surface together... introducing Flowey as your boyfriend.

You couldn’t believe your own thoughts… (and I couldn’t really believe them either)

So what was the feeling you were feeling? Was it truly something more than just lust and desire? Did you care for him more than just some fetish or kink? Or was that it?

Was this all you two would ever be?

Thinking it over, Flowey was making it all the more clear that he owned you, and in no way did he make it seem like it was deeper than sex. In a way he behaved as if you were just a sex object he was using...

But... when he had looked into your eyes and demanded that kiss however, your stomach fluttered with butterflies at the thoughts that maybe there was something there, something different than his usual self. His need to try and show that he truly… felt something, anything for you. That small moment of holding your face as he kissed and pecked your lips with his own, searching in your eyes with such a forlorn look in his own gaze… it had to have meant something.

Maybe. Who knows.

You lifted from the toilet, realizing that the aftermath of your actions had begun. The nectar ran down your leg and, as you were sitting there, some even spilled into the toilet water. The entire bathroom smelled just like the strong sweet scents of the downstairs, of yesterday’s mess, of today’s events. You would probably smell like Flowey forever if this kept up, and even as you stepped into the shower and tried to scrub away your sins, the smell remained if not faint and gentle. Flowey’s musk, he had claimed his territory alright, and you not only let it happen but you enjoyed it. You were however starting to regret it, you were concerned that it would be hard for the both of you to let each other go for your own sake of getting back to the surface.

There had to be a way around this, there just had to be.

But you didn’t know how to talk it out with Flowey. As open as the two of you had been with one another about each other’s pasts (and sexual endeavors), these deep and brooding personal feelings you tucked under lock and key in your mind and heart.

It felt like too much.

You stepped out the shower, turning the water off and using the same rag as earlier before unlocking the bathroom door and redressing. Once again, you descended the escalators to find Flowey still on the couch, only this time there were two bowls of noodles with him.

“Finally.” He muttered when he spotted you, gesturing with his head for you to come over. You quietly complied, and he lifted one of the bowls towards you with a vine before you took it and sat down on the couch. Instead of like your first day here, sitting at the far end away from him, you found yourself sitting right beside him as the two of you quietly ate and watched, well, porn together.

How lovely.

Such a bonding experience!

Flowey had finished his bowl before you, apparently so hungry that he even sipped up the broth remains before setting the dish down and looking back to the television. You were only halfway done with your meal by the time the hentai (well you were certain it was a yaoi) had finished, and instead of letting the static continue to fill the silence, Flowey had turned it off. There wasn’t much else to do however, Alphys didn’t leave many activities behind other than her shameful porn stash, and with the two of you apparently too embarrassed to speak, Flowey was just as silent as you were, even as you awkwardly slurped noisily at your noodles.

Finally though, after a moment of silence for no particular reason, he looked to you. Almost shyly, his cheeks flushed and his eyes narrowed “Did you enjoy it?” He dared to ask, and you tried not to choke on the noodle half way down your throat.

Though your gag reflex was getting better thanks to the Flowey training.

“Do you mean these noodles?” You gave a small grin, and he rolled his eyes before looking back to you as you gave a more serious answer “If I didn’t... would I have finished with you?” You asked in return, embarrassed that you had even said that and quickly stuffing your mouth with the remaining instant noodles soon after.

Flowey had found this amusing and laughed lightly, nudging you with a vine and muttering “Slob.” Before turning his head away from you. Probably unfamiliar with how to show true affection, you could only believe that he was pondering on ways to express his feelings towards you. But there was nothing worse than force, so you simply kept quiet before finishing off your meal and setting the bowl down.

Nothing came through however, Flowey remained silently pondering over things that you wished he would express, but you weren’t going to push it.

“Hey, Flowey…” You breathed out lightly, licking your lips as you side-eyed him. He did the same towards you, his petals perking up “Hm?”

“Can I... kiss you?”

His face flushed, his stare wavered and you found him looking downward at his flower pot, all the while you started to shift your body to face his. You tucked a leg underneath you as you got as comfortable as you possibly could on the old couch. He mumbled something, through your lack of a response he thankfully decided to repeat himself “W-Why are you asking? Just… do it, if you really want to. Dumbass.”

You smiled and shrugged as casually as your racing heart would let you “Alright.”

And you leaned down to his level and quickly pressed your lips to his. Eyes closed, mouths open, you two almost hummed in unison, the stamp of approval from the both of you as he returned your affections with his own. No tongue involved, nothing sloppy or lustful, just a gentle and enjoyable kiss shared between two folks in denial. Your third kiss from him and your third in your lifetime. So far, you were on a roll.

Your soul vibrated in your chest, the fluctuating colors made your chest glow rather brightly, but it went completely ignored as you two continued your lip locking showdown. Your soul was wrapped around your heart, vibrating, and with your heart already pounding you only assumed your chest was looking like a set of colorful speakers that blasted a musical tune only you could hear. It wanted to burst out and go to him, but you couldn’t do that.

You knew you couldn’t, or at least, for the time being you thought you couldn’t.

Maybe this was all a bad idea since the two of you were doomed to be torn apart.

You felt a sense of longing, and as the two of you finally broke your kiss, staring into eachothers eyes, you knew that there had to be some way to get Flowey to the surface.

You were…

D E T E R M I N E D .

And then round four began on the couch.

Notes:

> Hm... writing out anal is always so weird for me...> Flowey has an addiction... hopefully it'll be fixed by tomorrow--

Summary:

“This is your fault--” His voice was as deep as an ocean, wavering as if unsure of himself. He was being completely overwhelmed with emotions out of his control, and you couldn’t blame him for blaming you.

Notes:

> This chapter goes great with the song “Reckless” by Gareth Emery… at least for me-- then again I love that fast beat club shit so.> but everytime i heard this song on the radio it made me think of this chapter and just get all feelsy ;w;> Not really lemon warning… more like blood orange .

Chapter Text

Chapter Fourteen: You Gazed Into Hell

And so it begun. You knew something was terribly off today the moment you woke up in the bed as if the day had been repeated countless amounts of times. You were getting familiar, comfortable, and that was a big sign that there was a problem.

You felt your sins crawling on your back… almost like vines, stretching and sinking deep into your skin. Gripping, stinging, making your body ache with regret and remorse. Seeking atonement for your actions, you knew it was time to push forward. You were slowly getting stuck, literally like honey you were beginning to lose your run and solidify into that of… well… an adventurer searching for a place to finally settle.

But this was not the right place to settle.

Your mind raced, wondering whether you truly had to remind Flowey that you two needed to get into the basement or not.

He hadn’t brought it up for two days--

You’ve been in Alphys’ lab for two whole days now, doing absolutely nothing more than having sex, eating noodles, and watching porn.

Stuck in some sexual fantasy where all the two of you ever did was the same thing on repeat, and for awhile you had to admit you almost lost yourself in it all. You didn’t want to return to reality, you didn’t want to go back to the surface, you wanted to stay like this forever. Carefree, no stress, just… permanent release. A world of sin--

So of course, when Flowey suddenly told you “Let’s head back to the ruins, alright?”

You were left wondering, in your little mess of a mind, how badly did you really want to join him?

And so it begun… you felt your sins crawling on your back…

And you were reminded of what you came down here to do; get information, then go home.

At the time you didn’t realize that you had messed up so much, how could something that felt so good be so bad for you?

After round four on the couch, you didn’t even bother to hurry to take a shower. In a way, you had suddenly become so accustomed and comfortable in the sugary honey scent that you actually enjoyed it. You practically marinated yourself in Flowey’s musk, and then almost immediately after round four had finished, round five began.

Sure, you two took a food break after you found your stomach grumbling from not only too much sugar, but lack of actual food in your belly… but even in the middle of eating the two of you started round six which caused noodles to spill and stains to be formed.

At least when you two went for rounds seven and eight you actually went to use the bed like normal people-- not that either of you were normal of course. But due to how old the sheets were, it was mostly a round of sex that resulted in you sneezing a lot and Flowey yelling at you to not do it in his direction.

And then nine was in the shower.

And near the climax of each sexcapade you two shared, he went through the same actions, the same demands, every moment Flowey reached his peak, he would utter the same commanding phrase he had been doing, letting you thoroughly understand “You’re mine.”

And after all that banging, you truly were starting to believe it.

Your mind had been so rattled and sprung that you could barely recall much of what happened during most of the rounds, you just knew you enjoyed it very much. At this point, you wore the honey-glaze like some sort of perfume, and decided to settle with the excuse of “Well, it smells better than burning sweat and dirt.”

But that was only because you’ve tried already to scrub it out of your skin, out of your hair, out of your mind… but it apparently sank into your pores, became one with your flesh, and now you wafted a gentle flowery fragrance that, in a sense, would never go away. But that probably wasn’t the biggest problem you were facing. You were certain after some time it would eventually fade away. Like glitter that you would find in places long after you’ve used it, you knew in due time all the honey smells would vanish.

But your main concern was that you were getting too comfortable with all this. And so was he.

You did your best to suppress the urges, the cravings, the wanderlust that filled your heart. A piece of you ready to move on and explore the underground, another piece of you ready to stay with Flowey, and then the third piece of you wanting more than anything to just go home.

After round nine, after showering and realizing his scent wouldn’t go away so easily anymore, and then after settling with calling it your latest Honey Pot Perfume, suddenly the world started to spin again and the sticky substances that probably kept your mind in place crumbled to let the cogs turn and your brain process things normally. Which was, of course, around the same time that Flowey had suggested the two of you go back to the ruins together. Back to his home, just to relax and live the rest of your life down here with him. Even if he didn’t word it that way, it was practically a proposal.

His only words were “Let’s head back to the ruins, alright?”

But it was an invitation, a calling.

Flowey wanted you to stay with him, and like he had mentioned before, the playground was now meant for the both of you. To rule side by side underground, and to abandon all your troubles and worries of the surface world. Sacrifice everything that made you you just to be with him, give it all up... for him…

But, you couldn’t do that… could you?

There was still so much to do, your life needed to be lived. You were more so willing to find a way to bring Flowey up with you, rather than him keep you down below. But either way, as you took your time thinking it over, and as he currently stared at you, plainly, wondering why you were taking so long to follow him to the front door that lead back into Waterfall, you simply stared and pondered over what lead to all this happening in the first place. What made things turn out this way? What made you even question whether to stay with him or not? What made him want you here?

Well… you kissed him on the first day you two met, and then proceeded to kiss him throughout your journey, and then he finally returned the kiss… and then on top of that, the two of you started to watch anime porn together-- it was a chain reaction with many components, but it all sank down to you.

You started kissing him even before you knew him, and it lead up to Flowey now wanting to use you as a sex toy and even take you home to stay with him.

“Are you brain dead?” Flowey finally cut off your train of thought, you blinked and returned your focus to reality. You were back in the clothes you had borrowed from Alphys’ old stash, the sleeves of your lab coat rolled up to your elbows as you looked at the flower, who was already standing at the front door ready to release the lock and let in the hot air of Hotland. His flowerpot small, but it would be easier to carry him if the two of you were to go… back…

“Hurry up, we should get going if we wanna make it back by the afternoon.”

There was the faint smell of honey floating in the air around you, to be honest it was probably the whole laboratory that smelled of it, but the back of your mind kept mentioning that it was definitely you.

“Flowey…” You knew what you had to do, you knew you’d find a way to bring him to the surface… but you knew you couldn’t just stay down here with him. “Flowey, what are you saying? You know I can’t…”

“If you used your legs you could.” He replied almost too quickly, and suddenly he whined “Now let’s go~!” His voice made your expression soften, your cheeks flush, at how innocent he was appearing… even with knowing he was far from it.

“Flowey,” You tried again, almost standing on the defensive. You trusted Flowey now, there was no worry about him hurting you. The main concern was him still lashing out and getting emotional and pissed after expressing yourself. “I can’t, you know I have to get back to the surface. We’re already here, right? You said so yourself.”

He was silent, and you reminded him lightly “You know, you said the true labs were in the basement? Since we’re here we might as well try to contact the surface, right?”

Flowey suddenly unlocked the door, letting it slide open, and letting the hot air in just as fast as the cool air escaped. The clashing of temperatures caused the room to almost immediately rise in humidity, making you somewhat uncomfortable. But even so, he kept staring at you, suddenly a stale smile on his face. It was completely fake, you knew it, and he stiffly replied “Let’s go.” Without even budging to head over to you, or to leave the lab himself.

Waiting, hoping that you had changed your mind.

And it simply hurt seeing him this way.

You failed to realize that perhaps the sex was… even a distraction-- just a means to keep you here--

He noticed you liked that sort of thing, and he tried to make the place feel like paradise. A lure, to keep you down here with him.

“Flowey, please.” You approached then, walking up to the door and closing it with the button his vine had held down. With one hand you took his vine between your fingers, and the other locked the door again. You lifted Flowey up in your arms, he still stared at you with an empty smile as you carried him towards the kitchen space to set him on the table “Let’s get down to the true labs, I really need to find a way to contact Frisk so that--”

“Are they all you ever think about?” Flowey finally breathed out, emotion returning to his face, however it wasn’t what you had hoped it would be. His smile faded and he squinted his eyes, glancing away from you to break the spell as he huffed in annoyance “Frisk this and Frisk that~? Gee… you sure sound like someone who didn’t enjoy your time here. Were they always on your mind even when we played together?”

“Of course I did and-- of course not!” You said rather quickly, frowning at him as he turned his head away with another huff. It was apparent he didn’t believe your words, so you tried to assure him “You know I enjoyed--! I mean-- okay yeah you knoooowww I did. But Frisk is my friend, they’ll be worried about me and I have to tell them I’m stuck down here, don’t I? That was our plan all along. You’re the one who helped me get here just so that I can reach Frisk.”

“You don’t have to tell them anything.” Flowey shook his head swiftly, resulting in his petals swaying with him as he licked his teeth possibly as obnoxiously as he could to show just how disinterested and pissed off he was starting to get “You can vanish, disappear… they won’t miss you, no one will. Because that’s how it works up there...”

You tried not to laugh, though it resulted in you rolling your eyes “Flowey, seriously.”

“I want you to stay, and you know you want to...” Flowey did his best to play off a smile, though when you failed to smile back he suddenly got rather blunt. Looking at you and squinting his beady eyes in distaste “I told you we’re going back to my place. You’re going to live down here now, with me. And now that I’m thinking it over, it doesn’t seem like you’ve got much of a choice, sweetheart.”

You tried to think over your next words carefully, wondering if there were even any right answers other than what he wanted to hear. He was expecting you to simply obey him, suddenly his inner brat had returned, the flower you knew back when the two of you first met in the ruins. And definitely not the Flowey you had grown… fond of.

“Flowey,” You started carefully “I’d rather find a way to get you to the surface so the two of us could--”

The vine was so fast that you couldn’t even try to defend yourself as it smacked you across the face. The force was so swift that it made your head whip to the side, where you kept your eyes staring in disbelief at the nearest wall as Flowey muttered, this time, in a cold and heartless voice “If I can’t get out of here, then neither will you.”

You suddenly found yourself afraid. Your bravery and confidence had gone out the window. You were actually shaking-- which was a horrible feeling, because the two of you had gone so far together to move past these emotions. The last time you were like this around him felt like so long ago, back in the ruins when he actually pondered killing you. Was he… thinking about it again? Or was he seriously that desperate enough to enslave you?

As you slowly turned your head back to face his, his face had contorted. The menacing and creepy stares that you hadn’t seen in days were suddenly visible and right in front of you. Hollowed out eyes, glowing white pupils staring into your own frightened ones, and jagged grainy teeth... big and sharp enough to bite your head off. Flowey’s breathing was heavy, low, he had transformed himself into some sort of demon just for the sake of keeping you locked up underground.

It was never a playground for the both of you-- he only wanted you down here for himself.

“What… the fuck, Flowey…” You managed, rather breathlessly however due to the wind having been knocked out your mouth and trying to reclaim it through shaky gasps. You tried to swallow down the fear that crept up on you, it was only there because you had assured yourself moments ago Flowey wouldn’t hurt you-- only for him to suddenly slap you with no remorse over his actions. He proved you wrong after having believed in him… and now you knew nothing of what’s to come next. “Did you lead me to Alphys’ lab just for us to go back?” You asked gently, holding your breath as his monstrous face loomed and stretched over you. Tendrils slid out of the tiny flower pot, and as far and as large as they had stretched, his entirety looked as if it didn’t even fit that small pot anymore. You persisted however, your brows furrowed in anger at his behavior, your fingers delicately touching your cheek to try and slow down the swelling “Flowey-- did you lead me all the way here to waste my time?!”

“Well here’s another curious question… did you kiss and tease me just to leave?” Flowey asked his own question, ignoring yours. “The moment you first fell... up to this point... all you’ve ever done was try and… rustle up some petals, isn’t that true? Was I some tool for your lonely and pitiful existence? Did you run away from the world you once knew and fall down in hopes of there being someone out there to love you? Did you crawl after me with a thirst for true knowledge or were you just hoping for a fuck buddy that fit your disgusting kinks?”

Be brave, stay DETERMINED.

“Flowey you know I care about you!” You finally raised your voice, but it didn’t shake Flowey of his spell. His scary face was really getting to you, your legs were now shaking so hard that there was no way to calm them down or contain them. You feared for your life… for who knew what came after death? “And…” You stammered, gasping a little bit “And I know you care about me too! I know that you want me to stay because you really care about me and… I want you to know that our feelings are mutual--”

Flowey breathed out “Wait…” His head shrinking, but his intimidating face remained true as he grimaced “Mutual feelings? Of what, exactly, do we have mutual feelings towards?”

You swallowed, your voice coming out but suddenly uncertain with yourself “We both… we care about each other, Flowey. I know it’s hard to… say aloud but we’ve showed them through um… opening up to each other about our pasts, not hiding them from one another and... sexual acts that--”

“Sex.” Flowey said, suddenly he smiled-- but his smile was as crooked and violent as his earlier one had been. As he spoke you took the moment to hold the cheek he had slapped again, pretty sure you were feeling the mark.

“My time with you here has been for the sake of training you-- and it has come to an unfortunate conclusion that you are nothing more than a filthy freak who fell underground as another means of escape. Just. Like. Chara.”

You froze, staring at him wide eyed.

Flowey smirked suddenly, his grin never having had this effect on you. You officially couldn’t tell whether you were shivering from the cold or from the disturbingly hurtful look he gave as he continued to mock and berate you “Hm? Oh… you thought that us doing that shit meant something? Aw~ how embarrassing… you actually… thought I had…”

His smile slipped away just for a moment, as he whispered, in your own voice “Feelings.”

The fact that he used your own voice against you made you completely mortified. You were suddenly sick to your stomach, and removing your hand from your cheek, you hugged yourself as a means of calming down. Take deep breaths, relax... this was the end, this was your horrible end and you deserved every bit of it…Flowey had used you, you were literally nothing more than what he had admitted to; a sex toy on his playground… hoping to train you to only need and want him.

The worst part of it was that it had worked.

Only two days at Alphys’ lab with him and it lead to you craving Flowey, craving his affection and attention, his sexual frustration, his thoughts and feelings-- the feelings he once again claimed to not have. And this time, you were honestly questioning if he was right all along.

Maybe… he really didn’t…

No.

You refused to believe it. You choked down your need to cry as you murmured “Flowey, I’m going home. You can’t stop me… and if I have to do this alone, without you, then so be it.”

“I’m here,” He continued to talk in your voice, and you never felt so sick of hearing yourself in your entire life “I’m here aren’t I? So you won’t be alone. So long as you come home with me, we can be together… and you’ll never have to worry about being alone ever again~”

You silently glared at him, your fear vanished and having been replaced with anger. Never hatred, because you felt too much for him, but anger and hurt because of his betrayal.

Flowey persisted, suddenly his darkened and demonic tone returning “I don’t plan to be alone again for another 20 or so fucking years. You think you can just get me to enjoy your stupid presence and then leave me? You think I’m the toy that can be played with then tossed like trash?! Think again, dipshit.”

You wanted more than anything to defend yourself-- you knew that you had never meant to use him in such a way, or to make it seem like you had. You truly did gain feelings for him, and you truly did feel hurt and torn between having to go and wanting to stay… then his face went back to normal. Beady eyes, smiling face, but you couldn’t of been all the more horrified as you started to carefully back away against the wall. Right beside the bathroom door that still failed to open itself. His tendrils stretched and loomed over you, jagged, rough, and their ends sharper than you remembered them being.

“Why would you do this to me?” Flowey almost sounded like he was pleading, the vines all began to lower themselves, intermingling, coiling and wrapping around each other all to form one huge plant mass. From across the room where he remained sitting himself on the table top, you even assumed he was sobbing between breaths from what you could faintly hear.

“This is your fault--” His voice was as deep as an ocean, wavering as if unsure of himself. He was being completely overwhelmed with emotions out of his control, and you couldn’t blame him for blaming you. “You DID THIS TO ME!! I knew I couldn’t of trusted you! ALL of you are the same! You filthy-- shitty humans ruining my ALREADY SHITTY LIFE and leaving me behind! AFTER EVERYTHING I’VE DONE FOR ALL OF YOU, THIS WAS MY THANKS!!”

“I’ll kill you.”

“I’LL KILL ALL OF YOU.”

“AND I’LL START WITH YOU BECAUSE YOU’RE THE WORST OF ALL.”

“And…” He breathed out heavily, the tip of the giant vine now pressed against your stomach. You sucked in your gut as much as you could, staring at Flowey with wide eyes and hope in your soul that he would forgive you for all that you’ve put him through. All these mixed feelings, he was so overwhelmed that he didn’t know what to do without you. You were suddenly just as confused as he was, your eyes filling with tears, sweat beading along your skin, holding in your breath out of the fear that the moment you let go you’d press too hard onto the weapon he had just created, killing yourself. And… you didn’t want to die.

The moment you left, Flowey knew would be the moment he would get lost again.

And he wouldn’t let that happen.

He finished in tears, as heavy as yours were, his own the same. “And… If I can’t have you then no one can.”

And the giant vine pierced your stomach.

It was swift, and deep, stiff unlike the other vine movements you’ve seen Flowey do before. This vine had been wrapped around in multiple others giving it the appearance of a sharp pointed spear, easily able to penetrate not just your skin but your organs as well. You choked, trying to form words as he muttered faintly “S-See…? I can do it… just as you like…!” But instead of anything audible escaping, immediately blood rushed up and out your mouth, you wheezed and hacked up the fluids that sought out an escape route.

Flowey breathed out heavily, like a rabid dog, even though tears were obviously falling down his anger-stricken face “YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO BE MINE!!” And he only pushed the vine further, finally the tip of the plant spear exited out your back, and you couldn’t support yourself any longer or try to hold back from him. He licked his lips, your vision failing slowly as darkness crept and swarmed your sight of him, in complete shock and trying your damned best not to look down at what he had done. “You like this--! I know you do-- you filthy fuck! I just… I made… another hole for you~ another… playful hole…”

You began wrapping your arms and hands desperately around the giant plant in hopes of it supporting you, only to lean heavily on it and impale yourself further. Your blood spilled, staining and tainting the giant mass of coiled tendrils, and you sighed out shakily as your body slid further down the weapon. So many things had gone wrong so fast, and the coppery taste stained your mouth, leaving a permanent replacement flavor for the honey you had once craved... And now were stick to your stomach of.

Literally.

Trying to calm your heart so that the blood didn’t completely pump out your entire system, you gripped the vine in your stomach as he kept it there, looking across the way to him and trying to ignore what he had done. “It’s okay.” You managed almost too calmly for your own good. He blinked his beady eyes, looking around quickly as if it were someone else who had said that to him. He blinked away tears, Flowey’s face completely shocked as he took a long moment to comprehend what you were saying. You tried to focus your whole attention on him, but it was hard with your senses slowly dying out with the rest of your body. “What?”

“It’s…” You let the blood spill from your lips still, nothing but the taste and smell of copper in your senses. You were starting to get tired. Really, really tired. “It’s okay. I know what I did. I’m…” It was hard to control your breathing, even against your will your heart raced and sent more blood to your failing organs “I’m a terrible person…”

He was right, this is what you made him. He couldn’t wrap his mind around emotions, and he was trying his best for you…

Without you here, who would he try for?

You gave him a goal he couldn’t easily accomplish, only to prepare to leave him again.

“S-See what you made me do?!” Flowey’s face was suddenly pure horror, though he still refused to remove the vines that had turned into a weapon against you. But with good reason, you hoped with your dying mind. The moment he pulled his vines away you would probably lose all your organs.

“You did this! Why did you trust me?!” The golden flower was in a panic, distraught, in complete agony as if he were the one growing numb as the world began to dye itself in black “YOU DID THIS TO YOURSELF, YOU… YOU MADE ME DO THIS! Dammit…! DAMMIT!”

“DONT LEAVE ME, PLEASE!!”

“DONT LEAVE ME ALONE HERE!!”

“I just--! I felt--!”

You smiled weakly, and it caused him to flinch. You could barely see him anymore, the darkness starting to crawl its way around your sight, giving you tunnel vision that only focused on his panicked and grief stricken face as you muttered “No regrets.”

And finally the world went dark.

And your soul started to crack.

Within the darkness your soul pumped and fluctuated like a strobe light. Beating to the rhythm of your heart, the colors forever changing because you felt that, maybe, it was because you were unsure of yourself.

Your soul cracked as it raced, it moved so fast that it took on the appearance of a light blur in the midst of nothingness. So fast that it only appeared as an orb of light in the darkness of your dying mind. A white bulb struggling to contain the power within it, hanging on and using its last bit of energy to light of the slowly dying world.

And then finally, your soul started to breath and shatter, crackling, the pieces began to fall around you as you danced in the dark. With no body, with no mind, just your frail and breaking soul danced along with the other soul that seemed to join you. A color your brain was slowly unsure of, a color you were slowly deeming as unfamiliar.

But then… something peculiar happened.

As your soul began to break, as your body began to die, as it happily accepted its end and ignored the other that moved to your rhythm-

It refused.

Your soul refused to give up on you, and suddenly you had a change of heart.

What he couldn’t waste time in informing you because you weren’t the main character in this tale, well, it wasn’t the best lie he could come up with-- there have been better.

There were things he didn’t care to explain because he didn’t know how, there was never someone that needed to know, there was never someone like you… like Frisk…

There was never someone like Chara.

And as your mind wandered in its deep slumber, you finally did your best to remind yourself of the things he told you to not concern yourself with. Alternate timelines, alternate universes, the ability to SAVE, RESET…

It just took determination...

And as you slowly opened your eyes to your second chance, you realized something rather funny. And you chuckled under your breath as you stared up at the fuzzy ceiling.

Whatever you thought of was gone now, but the humor still remained as the smile was stuck on your lips. It was weak, and your vision danced along the dark ceiling trying to find some spot of focus, but when your vision finally started to clear, suddenly everything was brought into attention. The familiar ceiling of Alphys’ lab, and the familiar comfort of the old and sneeze-attracting bed.

You were alive…

And too weak to sneeze...

But you refused to die.

There was a thudding not too far from where you were, and you carefully turned your head in the direction of the sound. Hearing the repetitive knocking made you try and focus a bit more, your sight like a camera lens trying to focus on the blurry world surrounding you. The knock sounded so far away as if you were in a cave and hearing its echo bounce off the walls, everything around you sounded like it were under water and you were possibly drowning. But finally in the dark of the room you spotted it; a yellow blob banging itself against the wall, sitting on a brown blob that creaked with its motions. It took you some time, and a few moments of blinking, before you finally recognized it as Flowey. And the noises began to rise.

His face was hidden from you, broken pieces of the flower pot he was once in shattered beneath the chair he sat on, as well as covered in the dirt that had once been within said vase. All he was doing was banging his head against the wall, roughly, harshly, and what sounded like a distant and light thud moments ago now sounded more like intense slamming-- almost painful enough to make you cringe. He was literally slamming his head so hard into the wall that you could surely calculate him trying to bring himself into a concussed state.

You didn’t want to talk to him yet, you didn’t want to mention you were alive-- out of the small hint of fear that he would try something again.

He had snapped, he tried to kill you, and the last thing you needed was for him to try again and this time be successful.

Lifting yourself up as carefully as you could in the bed, you realized it was more difficult to do that without making a fuss. He had impaled your stomach, after all... so the feeling was still there-- that stinging and painful sensation that surged through your nerves to remind you of what had happened. Your pant-shorts were still on, but you were completely topless other than the wrapped bandage around all of your torso from the stomach to your neck. Dry blood covered the area mainly around your abdomen, however it also covered the bed sheets beneath you as you peeked underneath.

You let out a shaky breath, the sight was unimaginable… and unbelievable. It all felt like a dream, this felt completely strange and abnormal. You touched your stomach for reassurance and, sure enough, it felt sensitive to the touch but the gaping hole Flowey had created was completely gone as if it had never happened. Magic was far too strange…

And your soul far too powerful.

Flowey lashed out at you and then healed you as if it had all never happened, however once again you were at a loss for how long you had been out of it.

“Flowey, stop.” You wanted more than anything to get up from the bed and march right over to him, but at the moment you couldn’t. All you could do was watch as he hurt himself repeatedly for the sake of, well, probably regretting his actions. For a guy who lived on the words of “live with no regrets”, he sure found himself doing a lot of that.

Another slam into the wall, and you finally rose your voice, definitely taking a mental note that you probably sounded like you were scolding him at this point “Flowey! That’s enough! Now stop it-- you’re--” You had to admit it, and you did “You’re scaring me…”

Of course you were afraid, but it wasn’t of death… not anymore.

You knew what came after death because, well, you weren’t ready to die yet. It didn’t matter how often he killed you if your soul proved to not want to die. You would come back.

From this moment forward, you would always come back. Because you were too determined.

So even as Flowey slowly turned his head in your direction, cracked and broken faced as if he were a porcelain mannequin tossed away in the garbage, you stared him down to the best of your weakened ability. Of course you were afraid right now, and in this moment… but were you afraid of dying? No. Just of Flowey getting upset again.

“I’m... s c a r i n g you?” He asked softly, meekly, his roots helping him crawl down the chair he was once sitting in, and over towards the bed. He wobbled, dragging himself carefully, almost like a haunted doll. Your body tensed, and he continued with his broken stare “All the more reason for me to die, right?”

“You won’t die while I’m around.” You said hoarsely, and he snorted back rather quickly “But you’ll die while I am~”

Those words made you go quiet, and you looked away with a soft sigh. He grunted at your lack of a response, even as he slowly climbed up on top of the bed so that he could face you and stare more closely, but you carefully stretched out your arms to pull him down to your chest, hugging him the best you could. Gently, but securely, making sure he was held there and unable to escape your hold. Of course you were still afraid, afraid that all this would result in were your reaching close to death once more, and having to feel it. Feeling that intense pain was so unreal and nightmarish that the thought made you shudder… but you held him anyway…

“You’re alive not because of me…” Flowey managed, squirming against your hold for a moment before giving up after realizing you weren’t letting go “You’re… alive because you were determined…”

He returned to being silent, but he mumbled into your chest again “I can’t stay down here anymore… I’m going insane… please, let me die.”

“You’re stronger than this,” You replied “You’re stronger than anyone I know. You are the strongest person ever, Flowey… and if all it takes to keep your sanity in check is for you to hurt me then so be it.”

“I don’t want to hurt you! You S H I T !” He hissed harshly, squirming to try and break away, but you held on. Flowey yelled out “I’m trying! Okay?! I’m fucking-- trying! I’m doing everything I can to just…!”

“I know…” You assured him with a small smile.

“No you don’t!” He definitely started to do something to your chest, you didn’t pay it any mind, but it was an uncomfortable and stinging feeling, like someone with long claws scratching and trying to burrow into your body. But you held on as he continued to throw his tantrum. “You don’t know anything! You know NOTHING! Nothing about me or what I--”

It was probably the realization that you did know that made him go quiet so quickly.

Still holding onto him as he finally calmed down in your embrace, he then lightly nuzzled your chest, and you closed your eyes again as your body grew less tense and more loose. Flowey whimpered “I don't understand… why are you being so nice to me? After… all I’ve put you through and all I’ve done I don’t… what’s up with people like you being so… nice… don’t you see it only gets you hurt?”

You wondered over this, understanding fully well that Flowey was right. Love hurts.

You remembered the other soul that wouldn’t let you die.

“I don’t know…” You suddenly hummed thoughtfully, focusing on the ceiling again and finally managing a smile “Everytime I get hurt I seem to heal… it’s as if I got powers when I fell down here, or something.”

You snickered, and all Flowey could do was groan “Your jokes are corny, fuck you.”

Though he lifted up a bit against your chest, making sure to move his head into your line of sight. You watched him as he began to heal himself, a gentle golden light mending the tears and wounds of his face and petals as he looked to you with wide beady eyes “I’m… sorry, okay? I know that… it’s no excuse. Maybe an apology will never be enough… things could have been… worse… a-and I don’t want to… regret losing you.”

You shrugged it off as much as a human who was close to death could shrug off a psychotic plant “Then don’t regret it.”

“But…” Flowey returned to his original plan, trying to convince you to stay with him “Please… see? See what… you made me do? See what… What I almost did? You can’t leave me… you can’t just fall down here and make me… like this and then leave!”

“What are you like, Flowey?” You pushed, looking directly into his eyes as you did your best to get something out of him… anything “Flowey… what do you think I turned you into? What do you mean by ‘like this’?”

He hesitated, looking down before slowly crawling himself down your body only to sit on your abdomen. If he were an actual person, it would’ve hurt like hell and you probably would have punched or shoved him off. But it felt almost like a gentle weight of air sat on you-- like a pillow.

“Nothing in particular.” He failed to confess and you pouted at this, he only smirked, probably realizing your hope for something more.

But in the silence as you two stared at eachother, you realized there was definitely something else going on. There was something bigger, than both of you… and than any of this.

You managed “Flowey… whose the main character?”

“When you were slowly dying, what did you feel? Do you remember?” He asked his own question, arching an invisible brow at you as you tried to think about the dark you felt as your mind started to pull away.

“How determined were you to live?” Flowey added to the question after realizing you were taking so long with the others “Did you see it? Did you see a light--”

“No.” You finally managed with a light breath, and almost instantly he looked unimpressed. His stare had shifted, and he blinked out of his trance and looked away from you. You continued “I didn’t… see anything but my soul… my soul was slowly breaking down, but… I just remember feeling something else there-- someone else was there with me…”

This caused Flowey to look back to you, but now his facial expression showed confusion. You mentioned “I think I was ready to give up… I was ready to let go but-- someone wouldn’t let me.”

You smiled “I guess someone else was more determined to help me live than I was.”

You nudged Flowey then, though his eyes were wide as he looked at you. He snorted “That’s strange. You can only SAVE and RESET if you are the most determined… and for years it’s only been Frisk.”

You tilted your head at this, and he continued “Chara fell first, they were the first human child to fall into the underground and their soul basked in DETERMINATION. Humans all are capable of wielding it, they are naturally born with determination but Chara… well… Chara had a bit extra.”

You figured it was best for you to loosen up even more, relaxing into the bed, practically melting into it as you listened to Flowey’s story. You barely even thought about your journal as he continued “There was no other like them… not until Frisk, the 8th child to fall down here… showed up and was almost the exact same. That’s, well, that’s how I think I mistook Frisk for Chara back then. Because their souls radiated the exact same determination… and my power to SAVE and RESET had vanished, because Frisk came… and was more determined than me.”

“That only proved that, well, you need more determination than the last in order to wield such power of control… to control all of time, space, and basically make the laws of the universe bow in the palm of your…” He had curled his leaf up, looking down at it, before letting it loose “Palm of your hand.”

“Frisk, for years since the monsters got out of the underground, has been the only one to manipulate the earth like it’s one huge videogame. And they promised to never reset.”

Suddenly your mind was trying to click everything together. Frisk deemed it dangerous to go down underground with Flowey because he was unstable, and because if anything were to happen to you… they couldn’t SAVE you, because they wouldn’t know. A power Frisk weilded but never told anyone, a power apparently very few knew about. Controlling time with SAVE’s and RESET’s. You pondered aloud “So, do you think Frisk is the main character?”

“No.” Flowey shook his head, giving a surprisingly warm smile to you “I think you are… but… there’s another character in this tale who doesn’t want you to die just yet.”

“Frisk?”

“Frisk can’t SAVE you against things they don’t know about,” Flowey shook his head once more “It wouldn’t make sense that they can just feel you died and SAVE you. If it were… then…” His words trailed off thoughtfully, before he sighed under his breath, stretching his roots over your abdomen and letting light carefully pulse through his body and onto you. Your aching and sore stomach slowly began to feel much better, not fully, but enough.

“I’ve felt… love before…” Flowey suddenly commented, looking down at your stomach almost as if he were in a trance. He watched the golden light pulse in your belly “It’s been so long though that… it’s unfamiliar to me. I can’t seem to truly feel anything…”

“You feel remorse, regret…” You defended him as you always have “You feel… heartache. You thought you killed me and quickly started to heal me up, even without knowing whether I’d died or not. That’s what feelings are, even if they’re faint, they remain true.”

He smiled “I guess.” And slowly the light faded from your body, you felt completely better then. Almost fully healed other than the sore aftermath of everything you had been through. You shake your head, reaching out towards him and sitting up better in the bed so you could see him, he now adjusted himself to simply root on your lap, his roots crawled and clung to the blanket draped over your legs as you mumbled “Don’t think or worry about the whole… love thing. When the moment comes you’ll simply know. It’ll be hard to understand maybe… you’ll be so confused. But… you’ll understand what it is…”

Tendrils start to slide over your form, one of which press against your chest as a means of guiding you to lie back down on your back to return to your comfortable position on your bed. However the thought of being this relaxed around Flowey made you uncomfortable once again. Even with your abdomen healed, it pulsed as if it were a warning signal informing you that there was something amiss.

“I’m gonna heal you some more, ‘kay?” Flowey suddenly muttered, his tendrils and roots spread over you as they felt over your bare chest and skin, sliding over your bandages and slowly beginning to crawl their way underneath the blankets. You lift your arms lazily, before asking “Heal what? I’m completely fine now…”

“Your insides~” Flowey seemed to giggle, suddenly his melancholy mood had washed away and was replaced with, well, horny delight. You felt him brush between your legs, and you returned to sitting up. You glared at him so quickly that he literally flinched and all his roots and vines retracted like a switchblade.

“You impale me in the most violent and definitely NON-sexual way and now you wanna do the sexual version--” You were in so much disbelief that you were actually trying not to laugh “I don’t think so, sweetheart.”

“Oh how the tables have turned...” You snickered, before playfully shoving him aside. At least trying to make it playful and not seem like you were intentionally wanting to smack him upside the head and across the fucking room. “How about you calm your hormones and we actually get back down to business.”

He looked back at you, wide eyed. He was speechless, of course even trying to make light of the situation probably still hurt him a bit “You’re not gonna give up on this, are you? You really wanna leave... that badly?”

“Flowey…” You lowered your smile, relaxing it so that he knew you were getting more serious about all this “I can’t stay down here… you know that. And there’s no other way for me to explain myself… but, please… will you still help me? I could… really use a friend.” For some reason, that last word hurt you. And it almost looked as if it physically hurt Flowey as well. Friendzoned from probably the very first serious relationship you could have had, all for the sake of going home.

How badly did you want to go home?

Bad enough to still have feelings for the one who tried to kill you.

“Sure.” Flowey managed, a light laugh… a fake laugh. “Fine. Well… rest up and we’ll get to the basement later.”

With that said, he didn’t wait for your response. Suddenly he slid himself from the bed, crawling his way towards the escalators and letting it take him downstairs, away from you. You rubbed your arms as you thought over all these events, losing track of time, realizing probably too much for your own good. This was all the knowledge you sought, and these were the consequences.

Would anyone miss you on the surface, truly? If you were to choose to stay underground?

After having realized it, you claimed Frisk to be your only friend. But Toriel and Asgore were very accepting of you, including all of Frisk’s other members of what you’d label his monster family. Perhaps you did have more friends than you realized, but you still never considered it, it was still something new to you… to have friends.

But almost too easily you considered Flowey your friend, even after all he’d done to you.

After hurting you…

…

Were you the main character in a love story or tragedy?

Notes:

> that awkward moment when someone kills you and says "sorry lol" and you go "no problem :D "> i was warned that posting too quickly makes people think I'm shitting it all out as I go and not planning it well enough but ??? p sure i mention all the time how much I plan ahead?? I literally have the layouts ready up to chapter 25. don't hate the playa hate the game =w=

Chapter Text

Chapter Fifteen: But You Held On

You made the mistake of trusting him too much, with not just your body but your everything. And now, even after things had been fixed between the two of you(supposedly they had been at least) you were still rather… concerned for your safety.

It was hard to understand how your fears worked. You weren’t afraid of the aftermath, now that you realized you can easily come back from it-- but you were still afraid of the process.

After all, you had to feel death before you actually died. Even if you came back, it would still hurt.

Even superheroes with those regeneration powers hurt from being stabbed before healing from it all, right? So it only made sense that you would be afraid. It’s not like superheroes who are immortal rush into anything that may cause them unbearable pain. That’d be dumb.

The fact that you were even comparing this gift to those of a superhero made you chuckle, but as soon as you saw Flowey appear at the kitchen table, your laugh subsided and your smile had instantly dropped. You were trying your best not to show how uncomfortable you were. He had apologized for everything, he even regretted it so much that he was trying to kill himself by smashing his head into a wall for you… but for some reason… it didn’t feel like enough.

For some reason, the trust was just… lost.

Instead of tsundere Flowjo, you wound up with a yandere Flowey. And it wasn’t exactly as you had envisioned it.

You were doing your best to make light of the situation obviously, trying to brush it off considering it couldn’t be helped. After all, you two were stuck together underground until either you found a way out on your own or you got assistance from the surface, which was what you were hoping for now. You knew you felt something for Flowey, but now you were uncertain of those feelings once again all thanks to his asshole move of stabbing your stomach. You were so certain of your feelings, and suddenly they all fell away… now you didn’t know what the two of you were, you demoted yourselves to being ‘just friends’, but even then you weren’t certain if that was an acceptable label either.

Labels were always crappy to you, it was making an assumption of someone else without knowing who or what they truly were. Hence why you had always gone by they and them, no one knew you better than yourself, and you chose to keep it that way.

Positive… think positive…

Well one thing was certain, Flowey could kill you as much as he’d like but you’d either survive or he’d go the distance to heal you. So even if he hurt you, at least he would make up for it right?

No, that was still bad… that was the purest sign of an abusive relationship. Forgiving them for horrible actions towards you just because they make up for it later. You couldn’t believe your mind for trying to make excuses for him but…

It was Flowey… he was stuck here all alone, you lead him on, right? And he had this terrified fear of being left alone again. He probably could have survived if you had never showed up to begin with, being used to the loneliness like you were on the surface but… the moment you came along, the moment you two became close… was the moment he realized he could never survive being alone again.

Were you a freak for being horribly attracted to a flower? Yes.

Even more freaky for making excuses for his violent behavior? Even more so, yes.

As he sat on top of the kitchen table in his makeshift flower pot (with no more good dirt available and no other pots around, you had to run out into Hotland to grab a bunch of the dry dirt and put it into a bowl, then wet it down heavily just so that it was healthier for Flowey to sit in), he had his vines stretched out to reach and maneuver around the kitchen in order to, once again, make the two of you instant noodles. You two had been at Alphys’ lab of course for about three days time according to Flowey, so three days worth of instant noodles was starting to take its toll. You craved something else, but there was nothing available other than the leftovers that still remained in your backpack. Thankfully (and shockingly) they didn’t need to be refrigerated. You had been savoring them however, taking rare few nibbles out of the cookie and pie, but not wanting to eat them completely. Emergency rations, in case the two of you wound up stuck or trapped and in need of something to eat.

Or in case Flowey ditched you and you needed something to feed yourself.

Not that Flowey actually needed to eat real food anyway, you were certain he mostly ate out of a force of habit, or just because he enjoyed the tastes.

After yesterday’s events, today was a rather quiet and ‘no touchy’ kind of day. Flowey’s sexual cravings probably hadn’t subsided, but he was at least respecting you wanting space and not putting any moves on you. However, it lead to him also not starting any sort of conversation, unless you did. You could greet him, give a random or small chit chat, and it would go on back and forth until he decided to not respond anymore and that would be it. For all you knew, he was plotting something…

But you didn’t know.

As he made the noodles you figured now would be the time to prepare. Finally it was time to get a move on, and it was officially safe to assume your week was up.

If you didn’t find a way to contact Frisk, Frisk would get the wrong idea and probably charge into your apartment in search for you. And then get another wrong idea and hurry to find the broken rope hanging off the edge of the hole in Mt. Ebott.

...well, not that it was the wrong idea, now you know it was the right idea and Frisk was dead serious that…

...Flowey was dangerous.

You were back at the second floor, checking your backpack for everything, and like in Snowdin when you suddenly found the pie and cookies, you found two packets of instant noodles. Either they had been placed discretely in your backpack while you were unconscious and healing before, or this was just recently while you had been downstairs. You smiled at this, Flowey was pretty concerned not only about your health but your departure, and whether Flowey had truly felt this way or not you probably wouldn’t know for sure.

But you remembered the second time you two had sex, he gave you this look of longing. Of hope. Of sadness... before demanding a kiss from you.

He… couldn’t of meant all those things, those hurtful things, could he?

You were making this so complicated, over a flower for crying out loud. A flower who was neither monster or human, who lacked a soul. This was all predicted, it was expected. He warned you and gave so many warnings but you fell head over heels anyway-

At least you think you did. You weren’t sure anymore.

You had went back over towards the now empty shelves, since the manga and anime were probably left in a pile by the couch as they had been. There was of course nothing now, other than a couple old pieces of paper, in which you took the only two there and wandered over to the table and started to fold something. A gift to Flowey for, well, for at least not letting you starve while you’ve been down here. If anything.

Folding carefully and trying to remember your skills that you wielded as a child, you finally finished the gift after Flowey had called that the noodles were ready. And with a smile as you held the tiny paper project in your hands, you grabbed your things and laced up your boots before heading down the escalators to the main floor. Instead of everything being ready by the couch, now Flowey had simply set the bowls at the kitchen table, though he looked down at his own almost in disapproval.

“Thanks.” You said quickly, taking a seat across from him and setting your bag down beside your feet. Flowey didn’t respond, but you cleared your throat and simply started to eat.

You tried your best to ignore that he wasn’t eating anything, and it wasn’t until you were almost done with yours that you finally paused and spoke up “Flowey, come closer.”

“Why?” He asked so quickly that you had to hold back a wince of hurt. It made sense that these feelings were a two way street. He probably didn’t want to risk hurting you again (maybe), and he could probably sense your fear no matter how hard you were trying to hold it down. Flowey was just as uncomfortable about the situation as you were.

You forced yourself to move though, since Flowey needed an excuse to approach you and you didn’t need one for him. Well, you did have one though, but that wasn’t the point. “I made you something.” You muttered, pushing yourself away from the table and standing to your feet. You walked around to get beside Flowey then, slowly lowering yourself to his level.

He didn’t close his eyes or lean forward, nor did he pucker his lips in thinking he would receive anything intimate from you. It was back to square one.

“Here.” You mumbled with a soft smile on your lips, carefully placing the paper crown on his head. You remembered a time when you were younger that you got into origami, making so many animals, but eventually it lead you to simply making crowns. “You’re the prince of the underground, I figured you needed a proper crown.”

Flowey was trying to look up at the crown you had placed on his head, making him almost cross-eyed as he did so, and you definitely couldn’t suppress your urge to laugh at his expression. He showed his embarrassment, his cheeks flushing a light shade of pink at the gesture, but it was probably the fact that your mood had changed slightly that made him also perk up a bit.

You snorted “Oh right, but of course~ oh Overlord~” You bowed as dramatically as you could before him, and he only posed again as he waved his leaf like a dismissing hand “That’ll do, human. At ease.”

You only laughed again, trying your best to calm down from his antics. You had to admit to yourself that this was a nice feeling, that calm and relaxed feeling that lifted your worries and concerns away, even if it was for a mere moment. You found your laughter subsiding finally, and returning to reality, you fidgeted. Flowey’s demeanor had shifted back to his old self as well, and you slowly returned to your seat across the table.

He used a tiny vine to adjust the crown on his head for a moment, making sure it was straight, but it didn’t last long. Suddenly he simply removed it and played with it between two tendrils, pushing the bowl of uneaten noodles out the way as he gazed over the gift you gave. “This isn’t a means of… trying to make me be like him again, is it? I’ll… never be him… never again…”

It was like he was asking even though he knew the answer. You both knew, and you weren’t sure what to say to it. You could only imagine that as much as Flowey wanted to make a new identity for himself, there were always the wandering thoughts of Asriel Dreemurr, the prince he used to be. Perhaps he did sometimes wish to be Asriel again, or perhaps every time someone brought up something about ruling the underground… it reminded him of everything he had lost. You felt bad for triggering Flowey, you really did. But before you could say anything, his suicidal thoughts returned “I should be fucking dead… ”

“No, you shouldn’t.” You said as quick as you could, but not in time before Flowey’s eyes surprisingly filled with tears. The two of you tried to hold back your feelings considering the events that unfolded awhile ago, but suddenly he couldn’t help himself as he blinked them away as best as he could. “Why am I like this? Why am I feeling anything?!” He was almost angry at himself, the paper crown suddenly being crushed between his vines. “I’m the worst! I’m some-- some monster without even BEING a monster!! This is all total shit! I’m just this… horrible… fucked up--”

Almost as if he hadn’t realized it, he let his coils unravel around the wrinkled crown you made him, and he desperately tried to fix it. To you it was just a tiny crown gift, you could make plenty more if there was more paper, but for some reason he was trying so hard to fix this tiny gift that you gave him, as if it were the only one he would ever get.

And who knew whether he was right or wrong.

Flowey sniffed, wrinkling his nonexistent nose and blinking away more stray tears “After all I’ve done… and you’re stupid enough to stay here… you’re… dumb enough to still be around me…” He looked to you across the table, and you finally realized how stiff you sat in your chair. The entire time you stared and watched his behavior, now the attention was brought to you and your body tensed.

“I still don’t want you to go.” He admitted, his eyes fixated on yours, as if forcing you to return the longing gaze. He put you in a trance, even with his small beady eyes that were beginning to redden from the tears “I’m… lonely down here… I’m lonely and afraid. And ever since I met you, the moment I forced you to fall… I’m not sure if I can survive alone down here for another year, or even another month or… day.”

“I’ll visit.” You managed quickly.

Finally the two of you blinked, as if his hypnotising trance had shattered and you broke free of his spell, however you gave a half-hearted promise in return. You didn’t actually know whether you would visit or not after all this, and even so, you didn’t know if you’d have a way to do it. After all you couldn't just walk in and out of the underground, so how the hell were you going to visit him?

“Tch. Don’t you get it? Moron.” Flowey set the crown down, deciding not to fiddle with it any longer “There’s no way out! Or I would have fucking left by now! How the hell do you expect-- me to fucking… believe that bullshit?!” His eyes filled with tears again, but now he expressed shame as well, turning his head to try and hide his sorrow. You could even see from across the table how much he was starting to shake from being overdosed on emotion “Why am I shaking?! I’m not afraid! So why am I like this-- this would… dammit this would be a lot easier if I were just dead. ”

He glared at no one in particular “Things would have been easier if I had never met you.”

Well, you didn’t want to announce it, but you definitely agreed.

Things would have been easier not only if you hadn’t met him, but if you never came down to begin with. Frisk warned you, they told you there was nothing of interest and it was dangerous and while sure there was half a lie in there(considered there were plenty of interesting things down here) they was half a truth too… Flowey was dangerous, and like Frisk said they promised Asriel and Flowey that he had to stay underground for everyone to remain safe. Flowey was unstable, and now you had witnessed it first hand.

You weren’t so determined to bring him to the surface so much anymore.

“Not sure how many times I have to… tell you this…” You managed to swallow your fear down, though it was like a knot in your throat. You were trying not to choke on it “If you were supposed to be dead then you would have been, if you were supposed to be him then you would have been… but you’re here, you’re alive, and you’re Flowey. That’s as good of a sign as any that you’re your own person who’s meant to live. You have another purpose... in this story of ours.”

He blinked at you, and you simply added “If I’m the main character, don’t you think you have a role in my story?”

Flowey breathed out, rolling his eyes “I wish you were dead too… I wish… I didn’t feel things for you. The last time I felt this frustrated and confused was when Frisk spared me…” With a heavy grunt, he practically spat at the bowl near him that was now growing cold “This is what it’s like to live in a world without love. Confusion, hopelessness… anger… being pissed off at everyone and everything and yourself…”

“Do you love me?” He looked at you in disbelief, and you could barely believe yourself. You paused, trying to think it over.

You were afraid of him, he tried to kill you. But as you tried to think all these thoughts over, you thought of your best friend, dancing in the stars.

“Do you love me?” You asked back instead.

Flowey grunted.

The both of you didn’t answer the others question, and it would probably remain that way for awhile. You had plenty of doubt, as much as he had probably. But it couldn’t be helped, things took time, and now it would take even longer considering the events that unfolded for you. You were still hurting, perhaps not physically but mentally, over what had happened. And you still pondered his hurtful words… whether he felt anything at all for you or not.

“When Chara came, and we became siblings and best friends, I guess I was just willing to put up with anything.”

Flowey was suddenly telling more of his story, his eyes closed as he delved deeper into his own thoughts, ignoring everything and everyone around him. His voice sounded distant and lost, and at this point in your journey you were finding it less and less important to take notes in your journal. This was personal, after all. Perhaps it was for the best that you didn’t write a biography for Flowey.

“Now that I think back to it, they really weren’t. I don’t think they cared for us, for my parents, or for me… comparing them to say, Papyrus… even Papyrus was a better friend, even Frisk… I remember even telling Frisk all these things, telling Frisk that… I had wished they were my best friend instead, maybe things wouldn’t turn out this way. But then again, if things were different, would I still have been able to free everyone?”

Flowey was suddenly speaking in first person, a voice unlike his own, mimicking Asriel’s with ease as if he were back to thinking through the prince’s brain. Their thoughts and memories becoming one, connecting, perhaps not conjoining, but Flowey took solace in the fact that, maybe, Asriel was never too far away. You didn’t dare correct Flowey, even if the flower was constantly mentioning wanting to keep himself and Asriel as separate entities, you didn’t want him to stop his story.

“But…” He continued “They picked on me a lot, made fun of me… Chara did things that weren’t all that swell, eventually we found out that one needed a human soul to cross the barrier, but someone would need more than just that to break it and free everyone. When we found out what else was needed, suddenly Chara had a plan… to sacrifice themselves for the sake of me getting out to help everyone else.” He scoffed lightly, his eyes looking upward towards the ceiling of the laboratory. Instead of the brown to black shades within them, however, they were faint and red “One time we mistook this recipe… it needed cups of butter, but we gathered buttercups… and it made Dad sick… Chara laughed. They thought it was funny… I thought maybe that’s just what Chara did, some monsters are like that, they laugh things off… they joke about terrible things because it’s the only way to cope… maybe they really were, maybe they weren’t… but in the end they got an idea on how to get me a human soul and help me escape… and it wasn’t pretty.”

Flowey then laughed again, shaking his head and sighing. His voice had slowly began to return to normal, and he muttered “Anyway… don’t we have something better to do? Let’s get downstairs to the true labs…” He blinked your way, then glanced at the automatic bathroom door that didn’t seem like it could budge. It didn’t open for you when you needed it the most before, so you were wondering why he was looking at the door now.

“Isn’t that just a busted bathroom?” You asked, though Flowey shook his head as you looked back at him, he answered simply “No. It’s just a disguise. To keep people who would visit from stepping inside, and of course she would often lock it. We’re gonna have to bust it open somehow.” He stretched his vines out, taking your now empty bowl and his still full one and simply dumping the dishes into the sink “Apparently before heading to the surface, she decided to lock the door. Though it made sense, she was many of the few that knew of my existence.”

You pieced that together rather quickly when Flowey had mentioned awhile back as to his creation. Alphys had been working with determination, thus creating Flowey.

“She probably knew I was still lurking underground, and didn’t want to grant me access. Whether she knew I was alive or not, she was probably too paranoid to move on without locking it.” He finished, though quickly added as he started to carry his dirt filled bowl across the table “Not that I can do much without human souls, not sure why she was so paranoid. She told everyone her secrets so there wasn’t much else to hide. Maybe she just didn’t want me to tamper with the power source.”

He made his way to the fake bathroom door, and just as it hadn’t done for you, it didn’t open for him either at his approach. You lifted from the kitchen table and went to join him, looking the door over. There was no knob or handle for you to open it manually. It was either electronically locked and you would have to figure out some sort of code to access it, or you had to try and bust it open by force.

“So how do you think we can get in there?” You tried to ask him in hopes of getting an idea. He was scanning his eyes over the door as if trying to hunt down the same thing you had a few seconds ago, but of course he sighed at the realization that there were no handles or knobs “Well, we can try and break it open.”

“How strong are your vines?” You snickered, though you were definitely prepared for it as you knelt down to tighten your laces on your steel-toed boots. After all, desperate times called for desperate measures. This was your only chance to contact the surface, and if this was the only way then you would break limbs to get into the basement. “You try to force it open and I’ll kick it.”

“This is gonna end fairly shitty and make us both look like morons.” Flowey admitted, knowingly, and you definitely agreed with him even though you were walking backward to create space between you and the metal door. “Well morons in front of each other, but no one else has to know, right? There has to be a weak spot somewhere.” You tried to reason, tapping the tips of your boots on the tiled flooring to prepare yourself. Flowey’s vines were already trying to budge and grip at the door as best as they could, even getting the good idea of trying to force it open from the bottom to push it upward. Which, surprisingly, was working a tad. It creaked and groaned in response, but there was a small space underneath the door that he had created, and he forced his vine to slip through even though it was trying to slam down on the plant.

“God this is really tight.” He muttered to himself, though you managed to hear and tried not to think too much on it.

“I’m gonna kick it.” You said, jogging in place. He quickly shook his head “No I can get it! Don’t kick it!”

“Flowey what do you want me to do?” You were too pumped now to try your boots out on something, and you were already aiming for the center of the door.

And just as soon as he opened his mouth to say something else, the door slammed down on his vine. A loud hiss and yell escaped his lungs instead, and the flower was wriggling and squirming, struggling to break free. Finally he complied with your idea and screamed out “OKAY KICK IT! FUCKING KICK IT!!” All the while tugging at his now trapped vine.

You hurried forward at full speed towards the automatic door, and lifted your foot to slam into the center.

It did absolutely nothing other than send terrible pain from the soles of your feet to your hip, and you hollered.

With Flowey yelling for freedom and you suddenly groveling in pain, it was the most ridiculous thing that either of you probably ever experienced.

If anyone were here it would be taken as some sort of comedy film about two dumbasses trying to break down an automatic metal door.

With plants and feet.

A pitiful sight, really.

“FUCKING KICK IT AGAIN!!” Flowey screamed at you, in his pain and misery he was flailing his other tendrils and even grasping onto your body to try and pull himself out. This made you almost lose your balance since you were also hopping on one leg trying to comfort your other more pain-filled leg “I'M NOT KICKING IT AGAIN!”

This was so terribly planned out you were wondering how you two survived this far.

With your aching leg came a shaky idea “Flowey just lift it up a bit again and I’ll shove my toe under the door!” You had yelled this at him all the while wiggling and trying to kick his vines off of you. He hissed in defiance, probably wanting nothing more than to angrily strangle something(or someone i.e. you), but after realizing there was nothing better to do and things probably couldn’t get worse, he grunted and forced all his vines under the door. Struggling as they wriggled almost like worms, finally they budged the door and granted you some space underneath. Though with his sheer strength to hold it up for you as you shoved one steel toed boot under the crack, came loud grunts and yelling like he was unleashing the incredible hulk. Soon enough when you felt your boot was secure, you confirmed with him and he released to take a breather, and the door slammed down on your toe. You jumped in surprise and instinctively yelled “OW!” but realized that it hadn’t hurt, and your boot still remained perfectly shaped even under the crushing metal door. “ Oh, that didn’t hurt. False alarm.”

“Fucking hell.” Flowey cursed under his tired breath as he retracted his sore and probably pulsing vines. He cradled the one that had been under the door, like an injured arm which, to him, it was, before looking up to you “How long can you survive this while I feel around under the door?”

“Long enough probably.” You said simply with a tired smile, watching as Flowey carefully stretched one vine through the space you provided, his tongue sticking out as he felt for something. Perhaps a switch or lever, he was mumbling something to himself you couldn’t quite make out before finally he smiled and whispered “Bingo.” And a small click sounded, causing the metal door to shoot upward quick and out of sight. Almost instantly you stumbled through and fell forward, huffing as you landed on your hands and knees into the tiny room, and Flowey wobbled right after just to shut the door behind you both.

“There’s nothing here.” You said in defeat, though mostly due to tiredness from the struggle just to get through the door. All for naught, apparently. It was a small and empty room… small enough that you were starting to feel claustrophobic.

“It’s an elevator, dumbass.” Flowey, in a way, cheered you up before wiggling his bowl towards a panel of colorful buttons right behind you against the back wall, and he pressed a few before the entire room creaked. Your concerns at how well this ‘elevator’ had been maintained went ignored though, after a bit more creaking noises soon the machine worked and moved, sending the both of you slowly travelling downward into, what Flowey had called, the basement and the ‘real’ lab.

It was a silent travel down below, but as it went you slowly moved your backpack from your back to pull out your cracked smartphone. Seeing that the screen still barely managed to show anything, you pressed the touchpad and at least managed to get it to show a few numbers. You had Frisk’s number memorized at this point from how often you two had to discuss work, and as you dialed their cellphone and brought it to your ear you weren’t surprised that there was still no service-- however not even a dial tone rang. The first thing you wanted to do was find a way to get a signal somehow, that was what you needed more than anything; you needed a good signal.

And if all else failed, you needed another way to communicate with the surface.

The elevator suddenly stopped, and having not been paying attention, you almost tripped and landed back down on the floor. But you thought nothing of it, not until Flowey muttered “Shit.”

“What happened?” You dared to ask and looked around the elevator, Flowey made his way back towards the panel against the wall as you continued “Why’d we stop?”

“Must be jammed.” Flowey continued to mutter lowly, mostly to himself you figured, and almost too easily he was taking apart the panel and starting to work the wires with his vines. You swallowed, not appreciating that he was doing some sort of weird technical work without your knowledge or consent(or your trust in him knowing what he was doing), but you were suddenly too busy looking up at the flickering lights in the elevator to bother him. If he was bold enough to start rewiring things then by all means he knew what he was doing, right?

Well, you didn’t know, but all you could do was hope as you found yourself trying to focus back on your phone.

The elevator shook, and you let out a startled noise that, this time, did cause you to slip and land on your knees against the floor. With a huff, you looked towards Flowey “What the hell are you doing?!”

“I know what I’m doing!” Flowey retorted which, well, only made you more afraid. The lights stopped flickering, the elevator groaned, and suddenly it shook once more, but this time it also dropped an inch, making you and Flowey jump slightly with it.

You whimpered “Flowey if you let me die again I swear to--”

“You’re not gonna die, wimp.” The golden flower huffed, the elevator fell another inch again, and you yelled out “FLOWEY!”

“I get bored okay?” He tried to reason with you as to why he felt so sure that he knew what he was doing “I read so many books that I can probably teach even someone like you the process of spacetime, relativity, quantum physics and gravity. Not to toot my own horn but I’m also pretty sure if a space shuttle were to crash land in this trash pit I’d be able to rewire its circuitry to get it working in less than five--”

His nerd gloating didn’t last long when the elevator once more jolted, causing both of you to gasp and shift with it. You were glaring one too many daggers in his direction.

“Okay well I tried.” Was all he said, his expression so dull and unamused as the events unfolded that you could barely believe what was happening. He even gave an invisible shrug of his invisible shoulders as if his monotone voice didn’t express enough how disinterested he was with his and your lives being in danger. The elevator fell another couple inches, and you made your way to a corner and pressed against the wall like it was superman ready to fly you to safety “What’s happening?! What’d you do?!”

“This thing’s old, don’t blame me okay?” Flowey rolled his eyes “I was just trying to get it to run again but I guess we really do need to check out that backup gen--”

His words suddenly got cut off by another more heavier shift of the large room, making his bowl rattle before the elevator dropped.

The two of you yelled in shock and surprise as everything began to plummet, the world around you moving so fast that it was a blur. The colors of the dark elevator all meshed into one grey blob, and almost as soon as you had cried out the elevator slammed and hit solid ground, sending you flying up a bit before once more returning to the floor with a heavy smack.

Your head had knocked into the wall, making your brain ache from the sudden motions, and a headache form in the side of your skull. A part of you wanted to give in then, take a nap, get some rest right then and there and not wake up for another three or four days. But then that DETERMINATION fueled you, forcing you to open your eyes and to keep going. You huffed with a weak and shaky breath, and looked around the elevator, finding your belongings across the room and hurrying to crawl and gather them up. Flowey in another corner of the elevator simply leaning back with his bowl beside himself, in a dazed like state as if he had been drugged. A bit of dirt seemed to be scattered around him, however surprisingly his bowl didn’t even crack and everything was still intact for the most part.

You checked your phone quickly, thankful for no more damage than it needed, before sighing and looking to the elevator door that was half open. It presented the darkness of the true labs to you, a strange mist-like fog seeped through the busted elevator doors and you were all too eager to move forward and experience a new area to explore. You got up and made your way to the half open metal door, bending over to make your way through, before making it to the other side. Your head still made your vision wobble for a moment, so you tried to move fairly slowly, and you stood there in waiting for not just your body to calm, but for Flowey to hopefully join you.

Sure you were weary of him, but not enough to ditch him after an elevator crash.

Having managed to recover thankfully, Flowey’s bowl followed you, you could hear it dragging against the hard tile as you both entered the dark. Only the light of the elevator lit up the main room you had entered, though it flickered due to the damage of not only the fall, but having little to no power left. It smelled of dust, old history, and sort of similar to sewer sludge. It reeked, almost like a disgusting rotting smell, and you found yourself letting out a disapproving noise before covering your nostrils “Eugh.” You couldn’t help but express your distaste, skimming the room still as you both simply stood there “What’s that smell? Did something die down here?”

“You could say that.” Flowey remarked gently, cackling under his breath. You didn’t get the joke, but you ignored it. His voice had been somewhat groggy, probably trying to recover from the landing as you were “The whole place will smell like this, you’re gonna get used to it before we leave. Now…”

He looked down the long and dark hallway that stretched out before the both of you, squinting his eyes as he stared ahead, and you only looked to him for guidance. But even as you waited for his response as to where to go next, you mostly wondered if he was seriously considering wobbling around in that bowl full of dirt the entire time.

You weren’t so willing to offer up your body for him to use anymore, but you still had mercy.

“Maybe I should carry you.” You suggested, cutting off his thought process as he quickly looked back towards you in confusion “Huh? Why?”

“Do you really want to drag that bowl across the ground the entire time?” You asked your own question, before finally looking away to gaze forward down the hall “I don’t mind holding you, Flowey… but only if you want me to.”

The golden flower didn’t seem to give any sort of response, not even a faint noise to signal he was even considering the offer you gave. You wouldn’t be surprised if he rejected your help, but you persisted “Flowey I think we can put aside this awkward misunderstanding for a little while all for the sake of getting me to reach the surface, yeah?”

Awkward? It was more than awkward. He killed you-- but I guess in a sense that was definitely awkward in some way, shape, or form.

You gave Flowey a small smile, as much as you could in a dark place such as this and standing next to a killer, but apparently it was enough to sway his vote.

“Fine.” He mumbled, and you didn’t wait before kneeling in front of him to lift the bowl of dirt in your arms. Once more, as you leaned close to him, he didn’t close his eyes or prepare for any kiss. “Let’s just hurry up. I know you want to explore and run around but this isn’t the best or safest place for that.”

“Is there something down here?” You asked, figuring the only way to go now was forward. You carefully cradled him in your arms as you walked slowly down the empty and crumbling hall. The wallpaper was curling, peeling, and you could only imagine that if the lights were on they would’ve been old and yellow colored-- but they were off, and everything was washed out in a deep grey, blue, or black.

“I want to say no.” Flowey didn’t exactly reassure you, and this only made you walk more slowly as you saw a flickering and surprisingly colorful door not too far ahead “But down here you can never be too sure…”

You finally stopped as you reached the doorway, staring at the four colored door only a few steps away from you. The four panels flickered even in the darkness of the area, and even without power… meaning emergency power had been turned on “What do you mean?”

“Well..” Flowey didn’t look at you exactly, but it was almost as if he looked through you--

Or right behind you.

“This is where I was born. As Flowey, the flower.”

Notes:

> Question: Who do you think the narrator is?

> Also oh my god is it possible to write too much?? ;__; 80k words in 15 chapters I think I have a problem.

Chapter Text

Chapter Sixteen: When Hope Was Gone

“Born?” You questioned immediately, though knowing fully well he wouldn’t bother to answer until he was ready. He probably did mean when Alphys had created him, but for some reason it slipped your mind. As if on cue he clicked his tongue, and you took that moment to check over your shoulder towards where he was looking at.

Thankfully, there was nothing behind you, so you returned your attention to Flowey.

“You’ll see probably.” He hummed, pretty amused at your interest before he looked away from you and towards the quad-colored door “If we stumble upon it maybe I’ll tell ya a thing or two. But anyway, let’s get back on track, shall we? We need four activation keys to insert in each slot, obviously their color coordinated, so we need a red, blue, green, and yellow key to put into each.”

“God, I thought all the puzzles were finished.” You mumbled, suddenly feeling that this whole thing was just a drag. Flowey scoffed “A few of them yes, but it’s not like I wander all over the underground. Hotland’s too hot for me to take a casual stroll in so I don’t bother. And I haven’t been down here in years, remember?”

The smell was unbearable, and you were feeling somewhat groggy and lazy having to do a hunt through the dark for some keys. But it was the only way to start the generator back up. That, and probably the only way back to the main floor since the elevator was down until further notice.

“You win some, you lose some.” Flowey sounded just as bored as you did, also letting out a small sigh of annoyance at this, before he gestured with his head “Come on, let’s get moving, the sooner we get the power on the faster we get out of this trash pit.”

The interior of the entire place reminded you of the rest of the abandoned underground, especially Snowdin, where the buildings and houses of the monsters that used to live there were run down and had revealed their true age due to time. This however felt much worse, considering the strange deathly smell that resided within as well to top off the creepy haunted house appearance. You made your way to the left of the electronic door that had to be opened, walking down the hallway and glancing at the computer monitors that hung along the walls. They weren’t active, they didn’t turn on or anything of the sort, but Flowey told you to ignore them anyway. He said “It’s not like even if they were on they’d have much helpful information for you, anyway.”

But that only made you all the more curious at what they could tell.

Entering a small room with surgical tables and sinks, you honestly didn’t know what to think about it as you made your way through. The thought of Alphys having performed surgery while at her lab made you cringe, especially because you knew her as a Scientist, even if she were a Doctor on top of that. She never mentioned her studies and what she had done while underground, and you only learned from Flowey that she had not only used DETERMINATION from human souls, but she used them on other monsters and on Flowey as well.

The fact that she had even gotten close enough to a human soul made you shudder. And then you shuddered more at the realization that Flowey had once taken human souls too.

And yet you were more than willing to bang him about 9 times, huh?

It made sense (at least now it did) why some of the monsters who once lived underground chose to keep their past under lock and key. Either as a means of moving on, as a means of regretting their past, or as a means of hiding something. Even Frisk, who didn’t technically live underground, chose to hide Flowey’s existence from you. With good intentions of course.

There was a doorway inside of the small medical themed room that you figured was worth browsing, and sure enough you had entered a tiny room with close to nothing in it. Of course, only a mechanical console hung and connected to the wall, and beside it on the floor there was a round grey-red orb. As you approached and knelt down to pick it up, you inspected it between your fingers, wiping away at the heavy layer of dust that coated it, and almost instantly the red shined brilliantly.

“Is this one of the keys?” You asked Flowey as you held it up before the both of you, who simply nodded before pointing with one of his leaves “Place it in that console, it’ll unlock a portion of the door that leads to the generator.”

You simply did as you were told, not like you had any better ideas, so you approached the device that was connected to the wall and pressed it against the appropriate slot. It fit like a glove, and as soon as it connected, wires and the sounds of machinery began to whir within, and suddenly like an eye, a red light shot open and began flickering.

“There,” Flowey sounded quite pleased “One down, three to go.”

“At least they aren’t so much as hidden… we don’t have to worry about hunting too hard for them, do we?” You questioned as you turned around and headed out the room. Now you were getting used to the smell of dust and decay, and though your senses were completely shot, you knew there was no use complaining anymore considering you’d be down here for awhile at this rate.

“I don’t know.” Flowey shrugged with his invisible shoulders as you then aimed towards leaving back down the hall from whence you came “I don’t remember where everything is either, and it’s really dark.”

“Boy~” You cooed “A flashlight sure would come in handy right about now.” That was hinting at the fact that Flowey cut your rope and basically in the process made you drop your flashlight, making it break.

He simply grunted under his breath, leading you in the opposite direction now from where you had started. Taking a right at quad-colored door(which now had a blinking red light at the front of it) you proceeded towards a door that glimmered as brightly as the red keystone you had used moments ago, symbolizing that not only were these keys needed to unlock the main door, but they were needed to unlock doors throughout the labs.

The door opened itself before you, letting release a small rush of old air to waft over your face, and you suppressed a cough due to holding Flowey in your arms. The last thing you wanted at the moment was to make matters between you two worse by coughing on the back of his head. Not that anything could get worse from ‘trying and almost succeeding at killing you’.

Was it wrong to keep holding onto that even as you attempted to move on from it? You even told Flowey you wanted to put aside your differences for the sake of escape, but you were still holding yourself back as much as he was.

Once again, you were a hypocrite.

You walked down another long corridor, soon enough entering into a room full of beds. All of them were the exact same size and shape, and with the same bedding draped over it. What you presumed was once white sheets were now a crusty yellow, and in the dark you could barely assume that the secondary color of choice was pink. They somewhat looked like hospital beds, but seeing so many dusty and forgotten beds made your body tingle with a fear of the unknown. That excitement of discovery, but that fear of finding out something you perhaps didn’t want to know about. After all, you already found out that not only did she watch porn with her girlfriend, but she also ditched a few copies in her own lab for the sake of keeping that a secret. So there were probably plenty of secrets left to be discovered all throughout Alphys’ lab… that should perhaps be left undiscovered.

“This is where the amalgamates stayed.” Flowey broke your quiet panic attack with his words, and you almost jumped at the sudden voice before you. He noticed and looked over his shoulder towards you, but it wasn’t for a long while until he turned his focus back to the wide and large room full of beds “Well, before they were amalgamates, at least. They were simply patients who had died.”

“Died?” You wandered between the beds with Flowey, looking them each over as you weaved your way through, as if inspecting and expecting something (or someone?) to be underneath one of them “Alphys brought dead bodies here? What’s an amalgamate?”

“Some were totally lost.” Flowey sighed dramatically as if he were an actor in a soap opera “Some were completely ash and dust, while others were close to death. Alphys was working on the determination experiments when she requested them to be brought to her lab.”

“Were you made already?” You asked cautiously “How do you know all this stuff?”

“Technically no, I was another test, remember? I told you that.” He snickered “I just enjoy snooping about, especially because, well, when you die and then wake up as a flower? Duh. Of course I want to know how the hell that happened. Sure I didn’t do it on the first try, but I reset a few times before figuring I could snoop around a bit.”

Reset… you didn’t reset, so you couldn’t even fathom how it would look to reset back to a different moment in time. For the time being you could only comprehend the power to save.

Flowey pointed a leaf towards the far wall at the back of the room, close to a doorway that lead into another. Like the hallways and the other room you had been in, against the wall hung a monitor of sorts whose power was out, like the rest of the building. “She kept her research as diary entries, and hung them on the wall as reminders.” Flowey commented coolly as you approached one. Stretching himself a bit closer to it, he grew a small vine just to tap at the monitors glass “This is where I found out what she did, and how I came to be. She took the dead or nearly dying bodies, as well as some DETERMINATION she extracted from a human’s soul, and injected them all with it. Suddenly, they were alive and good as new.”

You sighed with relief at this, smiling at the thought that anyone could be brought back to life with determination. Even a stray thought came to the back of your mind, the idea that perhaps… if you found her body… maybe you could--

“But no good deed goes unpunished~” Flowey suddenly cooed, and you looked down towards him. As if he knew what you were thinking of, he was already staring up at you with a rather eerie wide grin and blank eyes.

“What do you mean?” You asked quietly, and he answered quickly “After they suddenly returned to normal and were walking and talking like everything was fine and dandy, Alphys was too quick to inform the families that they would be sent home soon. Almost immediately after she did that, their skin started to melt, they were collapsing, fusing, falling apart… changing… melting… turning into gross hideous fucks, monstrosities if you will-”

You rolled your eyes. Even if you were finding these descriptions pretty disturbing and disgusting, you didn’t appreciate his attempt at making a joke in the midst of it.

“-and she basically fucked up so bad that she kept it a secret, and never said anything to Asgore, or to anyone else. I never knew about all that until I came back to find out what was going on down here… when I was first created, well, naturally you can imagine when you wake up in a lab the last thing you want to do is stay.”

The thoughts of how these ‘monstrosities’ would look like made you nervous.

Flowey added “They didn’t die down here though, technically they got their happy ending too. Alphys finally explained about the amalgamates and sent them back home. So they probably arrived on the surface with their families or some shit like that.”

That was even a scarier thought, even if you weren’t the type to judge for someone's appearance. The image Flowey planted in your mind on how they would look, and how they simply roamed the surface world now, made you cringe. You imagined that most of them perhaps looked like decomposing corpses, or maybe these blobby decayed masses. You shuddered at the thought. You hadn’t seen any of them in town, though. So maybe they simply moved away to another part of the world? A part of you wondered if it was safe for them to wander too far away from Alphys, who was their creator.

You decided against going through the doorway just yet, and though Flowey eyed you curiously, probably wondering why you passed it up, you kept going towards where you had spotted a hallway. Through the hall you found yourself eventually watching your reflection walking with you, behind a veil of dust that was as thick as icing on a cake. And as you walked further down, eventually you came across a long ledge that was covered in vases and flower pots, all with wilted flowers and plants within them.

“Wow, do you have some strange sense of direction?” Flowey asked in confusion “I’m surprised that instead of going through the doorway you wound up… here… but… here we are, anyway.” He finally breathed, and though you took in a light breath as well, you noticed the air felt somewhat better in here than the other places you walked through. “Is this where you were created?”

“Yup.” He mumbled, and you approached the ledge to inspect all the vases.

“Why were there so many other flowers?” You dared to ask, even wondering now if there was more than just one Flowey. Which he scoffed at your question “Well she either attempted to recreate me when I suddenly went missing, or they were failed attempts before me. I just know that I was supposedly the very first flower to sprout in Asgore’s flower garden, hence why I was considered special.”

“There was a component in you that she couldn’t simply get in another flower…” You muttered, mostly to yourself as you tried to think the experiment over in your head. Flowey nodded “Probably Asriel’s ashes. Me being the first flower, I can only imagine I sprouted thanks to the ash which, in some gardening studies, makes for good fertilizer. If I took it all, then, that only meant I had something that none of the others would.”

It made you think very deeply. The idea that Flowey was struggling to disbelieve they were Asriel, which as you thought it over, you truly did feel that they were their own person. Asriel, technically, had died long ago, whether one were to believe in reincarnation or not, Flowey was an entirely new and separate being, even if they shared traits of Asriel’s, even if they were once able to turn into him, Flowey was themselves. It was similar to, well, cloning studies. Identical DNA sure, but still a brand new individual that could never be who they once were, nor were they ever to begin with.

“I…” Flowey started then, causing you to lose your train of thought as you carefully set him down on the ledge with his, well, ‘fallen brethren’. “I mean… Asriel, needed a human soul to get through the barrier, and then he needed 8 human souls to break it and free everyone. When Chara died and their soul was taken, he transformed into this… strange half human half monster hybrid. Apparently so fierce and eerie looking that it was engraved on the Waterfall walls as some frightening beast.” Flowey gave a small chuckle, it was almost cracking “Little did anyone know that when two souls combine... they end up sharing the main body as if it were some sort of roommate situation. Chara wound up carrying their own body to the surface, just to show Asriel what humans were like.”

Flowey looked around as if they were being watched by some other presence, causing you to carefully have a look around as well before returning your attention to him. His focus was lost and distant though, though his face gazed at you, his eyes almost saw through you “They… the humans... saw this… thing carrying a human child so… at the time it made sense how afraid they all were. But he… never expected them to kill him. And no matter how hard Chara willed for Asriel to fight, to attack, to lash out… Asriel refused. He got control and simply returned back underground with Chara’s body still in his arms and died there.” Flowey finally cracked a fake smirk across his lips, his leaves shrugging as if dismissing the rather cruel and tragic end to Asriel’s story “And that’s… where I come in. See these dead flowers everywhere?”

You simply nodded, glancing at them so that you had an excuse to not stare at Flowey anymore. His gaze was becoming unnerving again as he continued “Like I said already, I was a side experiment of Alphys’. I guess when she got hired to be the new scientist for Asgore she figured working with his favorite flower would get her some sorta promotion or something maybe. Maybe she didn’t realize that Asriel’s ashes were all over Asgore’s garden… but I was the very first flower apparently to sprout up and grow, so I guess I’m fucking special. She studied DETERMINATION and how it managed to keep human SOULs alive even after death, she extracted some from…” He paused and huffed “Sources…”

Sources he admitted to knowing all too well awhile back that you didn’t want to comment on. Apparently Alphys knew them just as much, and so did Asgore.

But… that would never change your views on monster-kind.

Flowey wobbled his bowl of dirt around just so his back was facing you, he looked through the dead flowers at the mirrors that reflected you both and the room, but he didn’t seem to focus on anything, or anyone, in particular. “...and started going crazy injecting them into things. Into the dead… creating monsters, disgusting things that you’re probably smelling around here… and then suddenly she wondered “What would happen if neither human nor monster contained determination?” and injected it into this flower… and then, one dark day, I woke up.”

Suddenly emotion captured his face, and you knew it was real. The unfeeling flower hid their gaze even from themselves, looking away and lowering their petals to hide themselves from the mirror they had faced “I was afraid, alone, confused… I yelled for help… but I was in a fucking lab, of course nobody came. I escaped, ran to ‘mom’, ‘dad’, and I couldn’t feel a single fucking thing.”

Flowey finally, and slowly, turned himself back around to face you. However, his petals had curled up around his face to still hide his shame. You wanted to comfort him more than anything, but even as you lifted a hand to brush his petals, you hesitated. That same fear consumed you, and you held your hand back. He didn’t notice, and he finally finished. “So, I committed suicide. I didn’t want to live this life, negative vibes, negative emotions, sure I could feel a few things but were they the things I wanted? No. I died, but that’s when… the fun began. Suddenly I-”

A bubbly and rather putty-like noise sounded not too far above you, and you and Flowey both shot your heads up as you heard the vents overhead creak and groan. Already too used to Flowey being your partner underground, you immediately whined at the uncomfortable noises, hoping for an answer “Flowey…?”

“There is no good way to answer ya, sweetheart.” As if he knew what you were trying to ask.

What else was down there with you...?

The glob-like noises continued, suddenly through the vent bars above a grey mass pressed against and through, glop seeped through and dripped down, stretching and spilling, and you quickly snatched Flowey up and stepped out the way just in time for a larger amount of putty to fall onto the floor, in the spot you were in seconds ago.

You mentally high-fived yourself for your quick reflexes, wishing you weren’t so concerned with what was happening before you. You had felt this fear before that was all too familiar now, when you first met Flowey, when he tried to kill you, and now the fear rushed through your nerves as you could only stare as the grey and stench coated mass started to shift and form. More of it spilled from the vent above, and soon enough it was beginning to take a slimey shape. Even Flowey was cringing at the sight, but he wasn’t trying to look away as much as you were, probably too curious as to what it was turning into.

The room that once smelled like the cleanest of them all was suddenly filled with this horrifying smell of… well, decay, rot, the scent of a hospital; but more specifically, the End of Life ward at a hospital.

The glop groaned as loud and as watery as the ventilation shaft it had squeezed out of, the noises emitting from the creature as it expanded and retracted, trying to keep one shape, were confusing and unfamiliar. At this point your back was pressed to the mirror wall behind you, and you were hugging Flowey’s bowl so tightly you were wondering when it would break into pieces from your arm strength.

It moaned, the creature was slowly shrinking, the grey mass was shrinking and growing thinner as if it would disappear in an instant- however suddenly it turned into the small height of, what it took shape of, a dog, and even sprouted a tail. A large gaping hole took over the face area, it wheezed through it as if it literally was a vent that contained nothing more than air flowing through, but even as the air wheezed and gasped as if having trouble breathing, soft noises and grunts escaped, a distant voice that moaned once more

“KILL IT!” Flowey finally yelled, vines bursting from his dirt as he unleashed them upon the creature. Though Flowey’s sharp vines stabbed right through to the other side, the monster(?) simply stood there, still wheezing as if unaffected. But now Flowey tugged, shaking weakly at the realization that they actually touched the glop, and now their vines were stuck inside of it. “Eugh…!”

You attempted to speak “Um.. who forgot you?”

“Don’t encourage its behavior!” Flowey hissed and glared at you over his shoulder, before returning to trying to tug and pull at his vines. You held onto him tightly, especially because it felt as if he were being sucked in. Soon enough he yanked them out only for them to fly back and smack your face, leaving a disgusting and stinky grey print on your cheek.

“̶̰̗͚̍͆͂S̴̛̜̗͖̈́͂ḣ̵͕͓̗̂̚ẹ̸̢̈̎̐ͅ ̴̣̠̺͌͐͝f̶͎̤͔̅̀̒ö̸͕̝̘̋͐r̴̨̩̜͌̑̅ḡ̵̻̹̖̇̈o̷̡̢͙̊̀̌t̸̩̰̯͛̿̚ ̶̪̠̞̄̊̇m̷̟̙͖̆͌̍ë̶̬̠̜̈́̈́…̴͖͓̜̇̓͝”̶̫͈̖̏̀͝ It groaned again. The grey mass was slowly turning white, the hole that took over its face was still hollow, though the inside of it turned black as if it were decaying before your very eyes, and soon enough it literally looked like a tiny dog.

“It’s a fucking amalgamate.” Flowey muttered, still trying to whip the excess grey matter off of his vines, looking the dog-like creature over as it sat there. It did nothing at all, other than lower its head to the floor and sit quietly, moaning sadly to itself. Flowey added “It probably means Alphys, considering everyone else got to go home… she probably forgot about this one.”

“Were you supposed to go home?” You tried, and the dog seemed to sulk more.

“This is ridiculous,” The flower sighed heavily, in annoyance, and as loudly as possible to let you know (and probably the dog) that he was already bored and wanted to move on “It’s just an amalgamate! Let’s ditch it and keep moving! We still need three more keys to open the generator room!”

“Aw…” You pouted, still paying more attention to the putrid hound than the emotionally unstable flower “We should take it with us, since I’m heading out of here… I’m sure I can take you home.”

Flowey grimaced and gave you a shocked look “What?!”

The dog, however, lifted its head almost quickly, only repeating “̷S̴h̸e̴ ̵f̴o̷r̵g̶o̷t̴ ̶m̷e̷.̶”̸ Even though it was clearly ecstatic about the idea. It’s voice was more clear too, only making it all the more obvious at how it felt. Suddenly standing on its four legs, the gloopy tail swayed and wagged quickly, sprinkling droplets of the grey matter everywhere. You simply chuckled and nodded “You’d like that, wouldn’t you boy!”

It got more excited, suddenly yelping out “̷S̴h̸e̴ ̵f̴o̷r̵g̶o̷t̴ ̶m̷e̷!” And scampering its way towards you.

As disgusting as it smelled (and looked), you couldn’t help but envision it as an actual pet dog. Even though the creepy hole made you want to hurl, you quickly knelt down and set Flowey aside just in time for the dog-like being to tackle you. All you could really do was laugh as it covered your clothing in grey putty and that deathly stench, and where its face would be made the motions of licking you even though nothing was happening there. You wrapped your arms around it and pet its head happily as it wagged its tail; now spraying Flowey.

“This is disgusting-” Flowey grimaced and made gagging noises, he shuddered almost violently at how filthy he (and the rest of the room) was getting “I’m gonna hurl-”

“Flowey look! He likes us!” You chuckled again, lifting it up in your lap as it immediately got comfortable and nuzzled you. The longer you stayed in it, the less the smell affected you- however Flowey was having a fit trying not to regurgitate the multitudes of instant noodles he had eaten. He was seriously freaking out “This is disgusting! Don’t just- hold it like that! You don’t even know if it’s a he! How can you just sit here and act okay with something covering you in that smell and that… trash!” He used his leaves then to cover where his nose would be, still staring at you and the amalgamite dog as if you two were the worst things he had ever seen in his entire life.

“It just wants to go home, just like me.” You said gently now, looking down at it as it continued to eagerly look up to you “Since we’re both headed the same way, I don’t suppose it would hurt to bring it along with us.”

You then paused “And I want it to be a boy puppy. Look, he gets excited when I call him boy!” You wrinkled your nose and made a face down at the dog “Isn’t that right boy! Isn’t that right!?” And it immediately yapped as it attempted to lick your face again with nothing in particular.

“It’s a dog, it gets excited at any sort of baby-talk.” Flowey said, before removing his leaves and snickering as he mimicked the baby-talk technique “Isn’t that right girly? Isn’t that right shit stain?!”

Almost on cue Flowey had proved his point, the dog shot its head over to look at Flowey, and began to run towards him in excitement. Flowey screeched in protest at the mistake he had made right as the dog tackled the bowl, sending the dirt flying and scattering along the already dirtied floor, and knocking Flowey out of his makeshift vase. You tried to hide your laughter behind your hand as the amalgamite pooch harassed a very flustered and angry Flowey, but you realized that touching your face wasn’t the best idea as you looked at the grey stains along it. You wiped it on your lab coat as you snorted “Flowey stop playing around, we have to keep moving to find the keys.”

“ME PLAYING AROUND?!” Flowey yelled, squirming before finally you stood up and hurried over to yank him from underneath the dog. You brought flowey to your shoulder, he was coated in the grey goop that made the amalgamate, and almost as if thankful for the rescue he wrapped his vines around your shoulder and shuddered at what he had just experienced “That… that THING tried to KILL ME!”

“It did not and you know it.” You wrinkled your nose, not very pleased with how badly Flowey smelled and was now right next to you. For a moment you forgot all about why you didn’t want Flowey sharing your shoulder… for a moment… because when the realization of what you had done dawned on you, you were almost scared all over again. Flowey glanced at you, not sure why you were staring as he kept trying to wipe the sludge away from his little flower body with his roots “What? I don’t smell that bad do I? Everything smells like corpses I think I lost my sense of smell-”

“Nothing.” You said quickly, then looked down at the dog who was now at your feet. With their empty face, they looked up to you expectantly. You smiled, before deciding for the time being it was better to just keep Flowey on your shoulder. He had at least proved that even if he wanted to kill you, he would bring you back, right?

Even if it wasn’t him.

“Follow me, okay?” You told the dog, unsure whether it could even understand you. It groaned out “̷S̴h̸e̴ ̵f̴o̷r̵g̶o̷t̴ ̶m̷e̷.̶” In response, which was you supposed better than nothing, and as you began to walk further down the hall to check out the open doorway at the end, you looked behind you as the dog eagerly followed. You smiled “Aw, if you look past the smell and appearance, it’s really cute.”

Flowey huffed “You need to stop.”

You chuckled and shrugged your shoulders, Flowey had gone quiet as you approached the open doorway at the end of the hall, and as you peeked inside you noticed the familiar machinery connected to the wall. However stepping inside the small room and looking around, that was it. There were no key stones anywhere in sight, and you huffed “Dammit.”

The golden flower groaned in displeasure as well “Guess that’s one we need to hunt around for then, huh?”

There was then a hacking noise behind you.

Turning around, you noticed the dog was curled up at the doorway, lurching and coughing using its nonexistent mouth. Wreching, spilling a black and grey mucus slime onto the floor before it, before suddenly out of nowhere it coughed out a round object that was sent rolling towards you, leaving a gloopy trail in its wake. You and Flowey both cringed, but as the slime dripped away from it, and the moment the object clanked against the wall space beneath the machinery, you noticed the shimmering yellow underneath.

“Oh.” You went over to it and knelt down to pick it up, all the while hearing the amalgamate dog sliding its way closer to you. As you wiped away the sludge from the keystone, you chuckled and looked to Flowey “What luck, a key stone.”

“Lucky us,” Flowey covered his nose as you tried to hold it closer to him, his head naturally leaning away and back from it “that the creepy thing ate it and threw it up. My senses are shot.”

“If we didn’t have it follow us, then we wouldn’t of found this.” You tried to make the gesture a positive one as you inserted the round orb into the slot, which as soon as you had done so it blinked a vibrant yellow light. You looked down to the dog who was happily at your feet “Thanks, boy!”

And as excited as you sounded, its tail wagged just as much.

Flowey snickered, swaying in a mockery of excitement “Thanks dumbass~!”

The dog’s mood didn’t change a bit. And you scoffed “Flowey don’t be an asshole.”

Two down, two more to go.

Having to move back and forth throughout the entirety of the building was getting tiring, even after only having found two. You felt less optimistic as you backtracked back to the room full of multiple beds, and you went through the open doorway that you had skipped for the sake of exploring the room full of flowers. Your legs were already getting tired, but you only presumed that to be happening due to having gotten too used to relaxing. Your day long break turned into about three days worth, leaving you sluggish and lazy no matter how hard you kept pushing yourself. At least, even in the dark and stench-filled halls of the true labs, the mood was getting somewhat lighter. As you paid more focus to your surroundings and trying to hunt down the next closest keystone, Flowey was teasing and tormenting the amalgamate that was trotting after you further back. For a flower who seemed positively mortified at its presence, he was chatting with it more than you. Whether it was mostly picking on the little guy or not, you still found it amusing that Flowey was slowly accepting it being apart of the group. It showed a lighter side of the situation at hand. Flowey was just trying to figure themselves out as much as the amalgamate probably was.

As much as you were.

You reached a room that, though small, had a pretty large machine-looking skull at the center of it. It towered over you, barely allowing much room to pass, though thankfully there was another room to your right as you faced it that was easier to head through.

“What’s this?” You wondered if Flowey knew, who finally paid you attention and looked back ahead towards the machinery. It looked exactly like a skull, a strange and rather intense looking skull, and though there was dust caked on it like everything else throughout the labs, wires connected it to the walls and to the ceiling as if it were ready and waiting to be turned on. Flowey paused as he scanned it over with his beady eyes, jutting out his bottom lip thoughtfully. His eyes narrowed then, glancing elsewhere “It’s not important.”

And you supposed that was that.

Walking into the room closest to you(and easier to access) you found an old television. On both sides of the television there were shelves, however nothing was held within. And as you discovered yet another wall mounted device waiting for a keystone rested nearby, a round sphere rested on the floor beside it.

You approached it eagerly, kneeling down to grasp it and blow off the dust. It revealed a deep blue color as you gazed over the gem “Three down, one to go.” And you looked to the amalgamate that stood at the doorway, its tail swaying excitedly. You went over to it and held out the key stone, tightly in your grip incase it attempted to eat it like it had done the previous one, and though Flowey was about to probably question what the hell you were doing, the dog-like creature made sniffing noises along the gem. Like a mucus filled nose, it snorted and huffed, before suddenly it yelped and turned around, darting out of the room and heading passed the large machine.

“What did you do?” Flowey finally dared to ask, as you returned to the device on the wall and inserted the blue orb. It glowed brightly, lighting the whole room in its blinking glory “Well, I figured since it’s a dog, maybe it could find the other one and lead us to it.”

“If the thing doesn’t eat it, maybe.” The flower sighed heavily as you left the room and paused. Glancing down, you noticed the goopy trail it dribbled behind as it had ran off, following it lead you back to the machine-head, only having to squeeze through to make it to the other side. In the distance and amidst the silence of the true labs, you heard a loud bark, as well as the eerie call;

“Looks like they found it.” You had a pretty smug grin across your lips, even knowing fully well that Flowey was staring at you with such an intense glare it could pierce your face. You made your way through the room without giving much of the refrigerators a second thought, spotting the amalgamate circulating around another grey dust covered orb, barking and repeating its seldom whispers. As soon as you entered the room, the dog immediately took notice, hurrying up to you with its tail wagging. You knelt and patted its head roughly, and quickly for the sake of wiping your hand on your labcoat “Good boy!”

Even as you approached the orb, Flowey decided to add “Who’s a dummy~? You! Who’s a doofus~? You!” Which only seemed to get the dog more hyper and proud of what they had done.

Picking it up and blowing the dust off of it a bit, the deep green color made your eyes widen, before you went to the device against the wall to press the keystone inside its slot. Then, when the room glowed with its mesmerizing green light, you turned and breathed out as if you had been holding it in this entire time “Phew, finally. Let’s hurry up and get the hell out of here.”

Not willing to just walk all the way back, you simply gestured for the amalgamate to follow your lead as you darted back to the entrance, causing a surprised noise to escape Flowey as his grip on your shoulder tightened. He hadn’t spread his roots or vines throughout your body underneath your clothing like he had done the last time he was given permission, but you could only assume it was because you technically didn’t give him permission this time.

But after all this, it didn’t seem too bad to…

No…

...the thoughts of being impaled on that spear-like vine just danced in your head, making you cringe. But thankfully when your mind returned to the task at hand, your body had stopped right in front of the quad-colored door. All four lights were blinking; red, green, yellow, and blue. Shimmering and letting the entire room flash with multi-colors that, if you were prone to it, probably would’ve induced some sort of seizure. Even Flowey was looking away from it, his petals curled slightly to shade his face. The amalgamate dog sat there with its head tilted curiously.

Taking another step closer, the door swung open swiftly, making your muscles tense from the sudden movement, but you didn’t wait to step through and into, what looked to be, yet another elevator. However this one was fully operational. The lights were motion-sensored, flickering on dimly the moment you stepped inside, but noting the other doorway, you went through it instead of riding the elevator up. After all, you needed to turn on the generator.

“Through here’s the generator.” As if Flowey had to remind you, and you stepped into the huge room full of gadgets, hanging wires and machinery. The floorspace was empty from what you could tell through the fog-like air, but the dust was so thick that it clouded the entire room. As the amalgamate ran around excited at the open space, you had to carefully make your way through until you approached a large object that you deemed as the generator. Leaning in closer for inspection, you noted that the handle was stuck between the off and on switch, as if it had simply fallen down and accidentally turned itself off. With a simple shrug, you gripped the handle and pushed, forcing the switch up. Immediately the lights in the room flickered on, the ventilation shafts above started to whir, and the dust that fogged up your view of the entire room began to get sucked away as the air was cleaned. However spotting the dark in the hall you had came from, you took a note that perhaps the generator didn’t power everything in the labs.

Which would explain how even though the power had been on this entire time, a few other rooms smelled putrid and revolting compared to some.

“Let there be light.” You breathed out, rather happily at that since the air in the generator room was slowly feeling more clean and safer to breathe. Flowey looked around as well “And fresh air, finally.”

The phone in your pocket suddenly started to make noise, and you quickly tugged it out and looked the broken screen over.

50 missed texts.

All from one person.

“Shit.” You mumbled, though you also smiled. The realization hit you, and you laughed “Flowey the signal works! I got my texts!”

“That’s great~” He mocked enthusiasm, rolling his eyes and leaning away from you as you attempted to dial Frisk’s phone number. You had tried three times and brought it to your ear, all three times ended in failures as you heard nothing on the receiving end. You mumbled to yourself, trying for a fourth time “Come on… please work…!”

“If it doesn’t, then that’s alright.” Flowey mumbled nonchalantly, as you tried to ignore him and focus on dialing. “The underground isn’t so bad when you get used to it.”

And thank god you finally heard the dialtone.

“Yes!” You cheered to yourself, considering Flowey didn’t seem too excited that you were able to contact Frisk. You quickly dialed in their number again, holding the phone to your ear and maneuvering around to make sure you were in the best spot that had the best signal. Finding out that said spot was right next to the generator, you leaned against it as Flowey slowly loosened their hold and decided he’d rather be used as a chew toy than listen to you and Frisk’s conversation. He fell onto the floor, but just as quick the amalgamate pooch ran over him and forced flowey to stick to their paw as they rushed around the room still.

“̷I̴’̷v̴e̸_̶ _̶ ̶y̷o̶u̷’̷v̶e̵ ̵b̷e̸e̸n̵ ̶_̵_̷_̵!̸”̸

It was Frisk’s voice alright! But they were breaking up. And they were lecturing you at a time like this?

As Frisk started to rant and rave to you over the phone(while every now and again breaking up) you tried to calm them down and get a word in, but even through the static you could hear their anger and rage as they tried not to yell (even with their voice raised as high as their neutral demeanor would allow).

“Frisk! First of all, please listen I don’t have much time!” You rose your voice loud enough for the amalgamate to calm down, a loud groan escaped Flowey, who was now half way across the room. Frisk was silent on the other end, other than the bits of static, you figured you finally got their attention “I know I was dumb, I don’t need a lecture right now. My signal is crap down here, I’m underground and I need help finding a way out.”

“I’m fine.” You glanced at Flowey, who was trying to crawl away from the amalgamate, only for it to paw at him like a toy and make the plant yell in protest. You continued “Look, I know what you were trying to hide down here, well… I know who you were trying to hide down here.”

“̸T̸h̷e̷n̶ ̸y̵o̵u̴ ̷k̷n̵o̷w̵ ̸t̶h̸a̴t̷ ̵_̷ ̴_̷-̶_̵-̴”̸

You wished you could make out what Frisk was saying, as they continued like you would be able to hear them through the static; “̵N̶o̶w̷ ̸y̶o̸u̶ ̵k̷n̵o̷w̴ ̷_̴_̸-̴_̴ ̶I̶ ̵_̶_̸ ̴_̶_̴-̵_̶,̷ ̵I̶ ̴m̴a̷d̴e̸ ̷a̷ ̷p̶r̵o̸m̶i̸s̸e̶ ̵t̶h̵a̸t̷ ̴…̴ ̸_̷_̵_̴_̷-̸_̶ ̴,̷ ̴-̶-̴-̶_̸-̶ ̴u̸n̵s̷t̵a̴b̶l̷e̸.̴”̶

But you shrugged it off as best as you could, even with you being a little curious “Flowey’s a friend of mine, actually...” You commented in hopes that Flowey was whom Frisk was referring to as ‘unstable’.

You said friend, you realized this but tried not to think too hard about it. You maneuvered around the generator in hopes of getting a better signal, finally managing to get one without so much static “Flowey’s helped me since the moment I fell down here.”

“̸R̶e̴a̴l̸l̷y̷.̶”̷ Frisk didn’t believe you.

You sighed heavily “Okay so we got off on the wrong foot. But after getting to know him we wound up... good friends…we kind of sort of opened up to each other.”

Just the mental images of all the banging you two did ran through your head like some erotic film, your body was already getting heated up from the memories. But the added image of him stabbing you through your stomach and then calling it ‘another hole to play with’ made you try to hold back your vomit. Mixed emotions churned through you, and you glanced off towards Flowey who probably noticed your flustered face. He didn’t return the glance for long, before once more trying to flee from the amalgamate.

You finished “...and he’s the one who lead me to Alphys’ old lab. He told me about the backup generator that could’ve been strong enough to get a signal to the surface and boom! There has to be a way out of here, right?”

Right. As much as you wanted to mention, you knew you were already in deep trouble as is and didn’t find it a good idea to dig yourself any deeper in the hole you dug up for yourself. You did however want to mention that you had died, and somehow, came back to life. But… for some reason your mouth wouldn’t let you.

“I’m sorry, Frisk…” You apologized, and the static picked up, causing you to make your way around the generator again to try and hear them better “I’ll make it up to you when you save me, okay? Flowey say’s there’s no way out...”

“Not even if I tried, Frisk...” You muttered, trying not to watch Flowey and the amalgamate anymore. Now Flowey had wrapped their vines around the dog like some harness and was riding it like a bull. “Too much collapsed on our way here, unless I develop dirt traveling powers like Flowey, there’s no way for me to make it back there.”

The other end was silent, for a long time. It made you nervous that you lost signal. You glanced down at your phone, before speaking up “Hello?”

“̵I̸’̴m̴ ̶s̶t̴i̴l̷l̸ ̷h̸e̴r̴e̷.̶”̸ Frisk said, not exactly excited, and somewhat disappointed. Suddenly the next words that spilled from their lips made you shiver in disbelief. “̵T̷h̷e̸r̴e̸’̵s̵ ̵n̸o̶ ̵w̶a̴y̸ ̵t̷o̸ ̸s̴a̴v̸e̸ ̵y̵o̷u̴.̴”̷

You swallowed, letting out a nervous chuckle to try and brush it off as a terrible (and horribly placed)joke. “H-Huh?” You can’t be serious-”

“̵I̴ ̷w̵a̷r̷n̵e̴d̸ ̵y̵o̶u̷.̴”̵ Frisk’s words felt so cold suddenly, and as if he knew what Frisk had said, Flowey stopped his antics with the amalgamate and stared at you from across the room. Frisk continued in such a low and rather dull tone that you were having trouble hearing them “̸I̷ ̶w̸a̵r̵n̶e̷d̶ ̶y̶o̷u̵ ̸t̴h̸e̵r̴e̸ ̴w̵a̴s̷ ̵n̶o̵ ̴w̵a̷y̵ ̶o̷u̶t̶,̷ ̴a̷n̷d̴ ̶y̸o̷u̸ ̴f̷o̸r̸c̶e̶d̵ ̴y̷o̴u̴r̴ ̵w̴a̵y̶ ̵i̸n̴…̶w̴e̶l̴l̴,̸ ̸d̴o̶w̴n̴.̴ ̷S̶o̵ ̶w̷h̵a̵t̶ ̴d̶o̴ ̵y̸o̶u̷ ̶t̶h̷i̸n̷k̵’̵s̴ ̶g̴o̶i̷n̷g̷ ̷t̵o̶ ̶h̷a̶p̷p̷e̷n̴ ̶t̵o̶ ̸g̶e̷t̴ ̸y̴o̵u̷ ̸o̶u̶t̶ ̵o̵f̸ ̶t̴h̴e̷r̵e̸?̶”̸

“F-Frisk… please…” You tried, the panic in your voice was starting to make it harder to talk or even breath. The lump in your throat felt like you were choking on air, the frustration and curiosity with the fact that, well, Flowey might have been right? You’d have to get used to things underground? “You can’t be serious…! There has to be some sort of way- there was a way for you to get out when you first-”

They cut themselves off, and it’s not like you needed an explanation. You heard Frisk in the echo flower… Frisk had promised Asriel and Flowey to keep the flower underground for the safety of everyone else. It would all be ruined if Frisk destroyed the wall. Whether Flowey was a changed person or not, you knew what he was capable of… the temptation would be too much.

“I understand.” You said simply “I get it. I’m… I’m sorry Frisk.”

The other line was silent.

Notes:

Summary:

Just imagining taking the same path as Frisk, filled you with DETERMINATION.

Notes:

> I wanted to wait and hold back uploading this so quickly--> But then I found myself stuck on writing through the 18th chapter so I figured if I post this now I have all the time in the world to work on it.

Chapter Text

Chapter Seventeen: Continued The Song

“I’ve made some crappy mistakes… and so many more since I’ve been down here.” You wanted to laugh into the phone. Frisk was still deathly silent on the other line, but you could still hear the faint static emitting, giving you hope that Frisk hadn’t hung up on you just yet. You wanted to laugh, but instead, you found your eyes filling up with tears. The laugh seemed more like a cough, and you weren’t even embarrassed that Flowey was staring right at you still, watching you with more attention and his gaze almost burning the side of your face “But I’ve learned a lot down here. A lot of important things, things about Flowey… things about Asriel, the Dreemurrs… things about monsters, humanity… and I’ve learned a lot about you, Frisk.”

The other line was silent.

“You have so much power, and it was probably a lot for a kid like yourself to be able to handle on your own. So much was put on you the moment you fell down, and it’s still the same even now, isn’t it? You were the only one that could ever save everyone because that’s what you had… the power to… to save.”

The other line was silent.

“Resets, Saves… alternate timelines and universes. Yet through it all you managed to save everyone. You rescued every single person underground, Frisk… because whenever you would die, you would come back… whenever you would mess up, you would restart to fix it. Because you had the power to save everyone.”

And here was the selfish part.

“But what about me, huh?” You wiped your eyes on your dirtied lab coat, finally motioning to yourself with a pound against your chest. “What about me and what about him? Hell, I don’t even care if you leave me here to rot, but what the hell did you do for Asriel? Or Flowey? Asriel might be gone but- but Flowey is still here and is waiting for his turn that hasn’t come in… what… fifteen or twenty or whatever years?! And you’re gonna keep going on hiding him and acting like he doesn’t exist--?!”

Frisk’s voice changed almost immediately, and as cold and cruel as they were, they sounded like they choked even while trying to say it. Their tone on the other line had gotten so intense that you could even hear Frisk’s deep and low breath practically hitting your ear. But behind those cold and distant words you could hear them tremble. What you had said was spot on, and hit Frisk too close to home. The problem here was that now you knew too much, and you feared that them leaving you underground was yet another means to hide the truth behind this tale . Their words so intense, it made you shut up instantly, your muscles tense, and one fist clench at your side. You finally looked back to Flowey, who still stood there staring up at you and had somehow gotten closer as you had looked away. His eyes were so big and round, like a child watching their parents fight.

This was ridiculous.

You wiped your eyes with your balled fist, giving a broken smile down at Flowey. The flower muttered under a raspy breath, looking away as his cheeks reddened “Don’t fight for me.” Before finally turning around and crawling themselves after the dog to probably distract himself from what was going on.

It made your body cold all over. Did they know? Did they know that Flowey had tried and, technically, succeeded at killing you? It sounded as if...

Did they know that somehow you were brought back to life?

...Did they know that it was neither you or Flowey who kept you alive?

“But he’s changed--” You pleaded, suddenly though the line went dead. You grimaced, looking to your phone, then quickly re-trying to dial and muttering “Hello? Frisk? Frisk!”

“Did it cut out, finally?” Flowey asked from across the room, you glanced his way and spotted Flowey once again riding the dog. You were dumbfounded to spot that he had somehow tamed it, using his vines like a reign as he had done before as the amalgamate approached and slowed to a stop. However it wasn’t pleased with Flowey’s doings, whimpering rather meekly it’s usual “̸S̶h̴e̷ ̷f̷o̴r̴g̴o̸t̶ ̶m̶e̸…̴”̸

“Yeah…” You nodded with a frown, quickly wiping your eyes from any excess tears you might have accidentally dropped. The phone at this point was useless, so you simply tossed it on the floor and let it shatter more. You admitted that it was a bit harsh and rough, there was anger behind your throw, and it even caused the amalgamate to wince at this. It whimpered, Flowey loosened his hold on the beast in order to let it run off and towards the doorway that lead back to the hall, leaving Flowey on the floor.

Flowey stared at the shattered phone that now laid uselessly on the ground, scattered into a few pieces. He muttered under a small breath “So… what was that talk about, anyway?”

You really didn’t want to talk about it, and your face expressed this easily by twisting into unamusement and disinterest. However he suddenly returned his focus up to you “Hey, what the hell was that? Why were you… fighting for me…? After what I’ve done… why were you trying to defend me like I’m some special case?”

You groaned, rolling your eyes as you looked up to the ceiling. It was so far above you that you could barely even see it, even with the lights being on “Flowey we’ve talked about this so many times-”

“Well then say it again!” He demanded, instinctively he wrapped his roots around your legs. But without vines(which he could only apparently summon when within soil) all it was was a tiny flower attempting to grip at you weakly. Flowey growled at you as he glared, you returned the look as he demanded again “Tell me what the hell is so special that you have this need to save me! I know I want out, I know I want a lot of fucking things-- but I don’t deserve them! I don’t deserve anything! Why are you being so nice after all I’ve put you through?!” His already weak grip loosened on your legs, and you simply knelt yourself down to his level as he breathed out and looked elsewhere “I’m the reason you wound up stuck down here. I’m the reason you stayed down here longer than you wanted to… I’m the fucking reason you almost died… so why are you still fighting for me to get out?”

It couldn’t have been what you were thinking, because he proved against that the moment he stabbed you.

…

...Right?

“Even so.” You mentioned bluntly “Frisk is still against it, so whatever I’m fighting for doesn’t matter.” Flowey looked back to you at this, and you added “I told him you were my friend and you’ve done nothing but help me make it this far.”

“Do you really mean that?” He asked then, arching an invisible brow “Are we only friends?”

You pause, returning it “I don’t know, Flowey… are we?”

It worked before, and it worked now. He grunted in response, not willing to answer just as much as you weren’t. You changed the subject “Frisk said they’ll be opening the wall where the barrier used to be, I just need to give some sort of signal when we get there.”

“Well, true.” You simply agreed, shrugging your shoulders to try and seem less hurt than you actually were. The whole ‘contact the surface’ thing got more emotional than you needed it to “But it still doesn’t hurt to admit sometimes whether you consider someone a friend or something else.”

“Then why aren’t you?”

Well, he finally asked.

You refocused on him only to spot his stare rather intimidating. Right into your eyes, as if hungrily eyeing your soul, and you could feel your chest pounding. It was somewhat embarrassing, having your tactics noted down like that. You did your best to get him to confess something, anything really, only for him to wonder why you weren’t making the first move.

So… why weren’t you?

The amalgamate scampered back over, letting out a sloppy noise at its approach. You naturally leaned down and offered your arm, but blinked as Flowey mounted the dog “Forget it, I’d rather ride a fucking dog than you right now.” He stuck out his tongue “And I bet you’d like it too much if I rode you anyway.”

A part of you wanted to die as you watched him and the amalgamate hurry off out the room, you followed slowly behind, looking down at the busted phone before leaving it completely behind.

The three of you rode the working elevator back up to the main floor of the lab, in mostly silence other than the amalgamate making peculiar wet noises now and again. The third button option, that would have lead right to the castle where the barrier once was(as Flowey had explained), had conveniently been destroyed.

And you wondered if Flowey had anything to do with that.

When the elevator doors lifted open for you, Flowey and the amalgamate were the first to wander out into the fresh lab. Of course with the dog-like creature entering, the room was slowly smelling of the downstairs, its decomposed scent wafting throughout the clean air. But your senses were shot at this point, you could barely even tell that the air on the main floor was fresh. Flowey directed the amalgamate to the backdoor of the lab, stretching himself as best as he could to reach the button that would open the door.

You took the time to wander over towards the kitchen sink, looking for at least some sort of cup or glass to fill with water. Flowey had lost his bowl in the basement and you knew that he wouldn’t make it that long in Hotland without something either for his roots or something for himself to drink. But how quick would the water evaporate if you were just carrying around a glass of water?

Eventually you settled with the same idea as before. Rinsing out another bowl and cleaning it up, you went outside quickly and filled it up with the dry dirt of the ground, before returning just to soak it in water “Flowey, before we go…” You started, finally returning to him. He had watched you maneuver around quickly, but hadn’t even attempted to lift himself away from the amalgamate “Here’s another bowl. I filled it with water so the soil should be okay for awhile.”

“Why are you worrying about that?” Flowey asked, arching an invisible brow at your actions “I’m riding this thing. Just carry it I guess, until I want it.”

What were you, some sort of slave? You glared a bit “Flowey, you’re going to dehydrate.”

“Then I’ll fucking die.” He shrugged his leaves, and you couldn’t help but roll your eyes at his response. He persisted though “Boo hoo, now let’s get going. We wasted enough time here and I don’t want Frisk to turn me into a salad for you not showing up.”

This time he didn’t wait for you, yanking a little at the makeshift harness of vines, the amalgamate let out a sloppy noise before rushing out of the laboratory and into the heat through the backdoor of the building. You sighed as you followed as best as you can, the automatic doors shutting behind you in your wake.

You only took a few steps and you already wanted to shove your own head into the damp soil of the bowl you carried. Sweat immediately clung to you, your body, and all the wet gunk and grey mucus-like goop shrivelled and dried up, and suddenly faded away into bits of dust. Everything that was even a little bit wet was slowly drying as if it had never existed, and you were already surprised that the soil wasn’t doing the same. No wonder as you walked along you spotted an emptied water cooler, and could even see that there were more along the way, though unfortunately also empty. Probably due to never being replenished, since Hotland wasn’t one of Flowey’s usual hangout spots, but you did wish they were available, the trip through would have been easier to handle.

As you glanced yourself over, the rotting smell had long since burnt out of your clothing, and even the amalgamate ahead of you didn’t seem to leave a trail of it behind. Realizing this, you paused, glancing ahead of you at Flowey and the amalgamate, who were still waltzing along. It was peculiar seeing Flowey mounted on it like he were a cowboy riding a horse, but that wasn’t exactly the point for your interest.

Suddenly, you noticed it’s legs begin to reveal cracked marks, the drying of its body suddenly beginning. The realization that its whole form was in danger. Your heart skipped a beat, for some reason in the back of your mind, in that moment, you thought… ‘I’m gonna keep that dog when I get home.’

It would have been nice.

“Flowey!” You screamed, and just as he turned his head around to look at you, the rest of the beast crumbled. Drying up, shrivelling, it whimpered in agony and panted heavily as if even the air filling its lungs would worsen the damage. Flowey had quickly released his vines and roots from it, collapsing on the side and against the earth with a grunt as the rest of the amalgamate suddenly turned into nothing more than a pile of crumbled dust.

You ran as fast as you could to catch up finally, setting the bowl down and gripping at the dust with two handfuls, digging for a bit, then trying to push it all together, gasping from the heavy heat and the realization that the amalgamate had perished. Just like that, they were dead. They were destroyed. They were so excited, so eager to move to the surface with you. To see their family and loved ones again, and it had all been stripped away. Far too easily to even comprehend what was happening. You wanted more than anything for your shoving the pile together to help somehow, in any way it would have been great. Another noise, another whimper, some sort of sign to tell you that the dog would get better and heal and could still continue.

“What the hell?” Flowey muttered, still sitting there on the hot earth staring at what had happened, his own eyes were wide in a temporary moment of confusion.

You were so mortified at all this, you didn’t know how to react or what to do. It was just like you, only wishing to go home… and now here it was, as if it never existed in the first place. This couldn’t be actually happening, could it? Suddenly you felt a panic escape you, torn from what had occurred. You were already on the verge of tears.

The golden flower seemed to try and crawl towards you, mumbling faintly “You didn’t know, okay? It can’t be helped… no use crying over something like--”

“What the hell happened?!” You finally blurted out, your voice had cracked and afterwards you made a shaky breath. Flowey returned to holding a confused look again “It was probably left underground for a reason, maybe Alphys knew it was unstable and couldn’t handle the--”

You let out a growl, not knowing what to say, but letting Flowey know he needed to stop. And he did, Flowey squinted his eyes at you in a somewhat annoyed expression, but he was silent. You finally breathed out “You… knew?”

He snorted “Tch, knew what?”

“This is your fault.” You retorted all too quickly, mentally slapping yourself for even thinking of such a thing, but your words spilled anyway even as you tried to pull at your own restraints “You should’ve waited! We should have seen if it could even handle the heat! Why didn’t you wait?! Instead you were so eager to just fucking--”

“We don’t have any more time to wait! Remember?!” Flowey pulled back a bit, glaring at you from the assumption “Frisk is going to be waiting for you at the barrier wall, we don’t have time for all this waiting around bullshit anymore! Pretty sure if you take too long Frisk will assume I did something and--”

“YOU KNEW IT WOULD DIE!” You finally screamed at him, yelling so loud that you even felt your own eardrums pop from the sound. Your tears tried to roll down your face, but even they would slowly dry before they reached your chin. You found yourself turning into a mess all over a dog that you hadn’t even known for more than, what, five hours? Maybe it was because it was just like you; lost, feeling forgotten, and then you finally found hope only for it to almost be stripped away. But in this case, their hope definitely was taken from them before they even had a chance to look at it.

You stuttered out, through clenched teeth as you tried to hold back your anger “You were tricking me this entire time…! Trying to lure it into the fucking heat just so it would die. I knew it…” You shook your head and looked away from Flowey’s already shifting face, his face changing into not just more confusion but trying his best not to snap like you were right now. Now you hunched yourself over the dust pile, staring it down like the actual gravesite of a loved one “Flowey you… I just can’t--”

“Right, you can’t trust me. I get it.” Flowey breathed out, almost lazily, as if he didn’t exactly care what you said against him “I don’t blame you, I won’t hold it against you. Because it’s true, you can’t. I can’t even trust myself… why do you think… I’m down here in the first place?”

You didn’t want to look at him, you couldn’t, but you couldn’t look at the pile of dust anymore either. You closed your eyes and tried to quiet your gentle sobbing, loosening your hold of the handfuls of dust just to let your senses feel it slip away between your fingers and probably back into the pile. If not that, then the hot breeze of the Hotland’s would carry the corpse away into the air, to either disintegrate from the heat or become one with it. Flowey had moved himself around to the other side of you, perhaps trying to get a better look at your face, but you turned away once again before he started. “I want to leave so badly. If I had a chance, I would take it. But even I know that… from experience…”

He trailed off for a moment, probably thinking back to when he had hurt you.

“...that it’s not safe for me to leave here. Frisk probably said that to you, didn’t they?” His voice softened “They told you that you couldn’t let me leave… I heard you tell them that I had changed… but not really, not by much. I’m still… the same old Flowey.”

He gave a hoarse laugh, and suddenly your body jolted and your eyes opened the moment something touched your cheek. Looking towards the direction of the tiny root, you saw Flowey staring at you, a part of him brushing over your cheek, perhaps trying to wipe away the tears that would dry before reaching halfway down your face. You found yourself trembling, your hands completely dry and ashy from what you had done. You weren’t sure what to say in the moment, you wanted to say something, maybe he deserved an apology?

“I don’t blame you for wanting to blame every little shitty thing on me.” Flowey mentioned as gently as possible, still holding your cheek. You could tell he didn’t care much about the amalgamate and what had happened to it , specifically. But he had a genuine concern for you.

“And… if that’s what it will take to make you feel better, then I’d let you do it over and over… and we can go back and forth forever if you really wanted to. I have eternity, after all.”

You remembered your words to him all too well, regretting having hurt you, and now you regretting having hurt him. And the both of you were far too willing to let things go on in some sort of mental and physically abusive cycle, back and forth, to make one another happy. You were more than willing to let him kill you before, for the sake of him remaining sane. And he was more than willing to do the same for you now.

But at the time, you also didn’t think he would actually want to hurt you.

“I keep saying I’ll get over it, for us to move on from it…” You finally found your voice, as cracked and broken as it was. You looked away from him, causing him to pull his root away from your face as you breathed out shakily “I told us to put it aside, but I can’t. It’s hard to get over the fact that… you killed me, but I still came back. It’s hard to believe that you stabbed me after… everything we’ve been through together. With each other.”

Flowey was suddenly silent, of course. It only made sense. Unsure about what to say, the two of you were staring elsewhere in the Hotland heat to distract your eyes from each other. You then asked “But… I have to know… is it true?”

Flowey questioned back cautiously “Is what true?”

“What you said, about us having sex.” Even the word made you cringe and shudder a bit “Using me… for sex and just as some means of convincing me to stay underground with you.”

“I got carried away, I admit it. Okay?” Flowey was surprisingly quick to defend himself, grunting as you felt his eyes return to looking at you. You felt them staring at you as he spoke, even if you refused to look back. “I was… I was angry, and upset that… after all we just did, you still didn’t want to… stay. Can’t you imagine? Feeling these strong emotions for someone, and they just… don’t want to be around you? I didn’t mean any of those things… I just--”

“I wish I believed you..” You said lightly, and he slowly relaxed, chuckling under a soft breath as he added “I don’t blame you for not trusting me, either. But… at least, for now…” You finally managed to look at him, as he fidgeted in place. His eyes were fixated on the damp bowl of dirt “We should really start moving… things will figure themselves out, they always do.”

You swallowed, your mouth dry now that your eyes stopped their tears. The crying had practically dehydrated you, and now the both of you were in the need of something to drink. The least you could do was allow Flowey to not die in the middle of Hotland. After all, he probably couldn’t simply wake up from being dead like you could. You tried not to smile at this thought either, it was dark humor of course, and now wasn’t the appropriate time to mention it. But from this, you felt… a heavy weight had been lifted from your shoulders. Actually talking about these insecurities made you feel somewhat better.

With a weak nod, you reached out, carefully picking him up before setting him in the bowl of dirt. He immediately wiggled himself in, getting comfortable and practically sighing at the enjoyment of the wet dirt. He sprouted vines, using them to lift the bowl up like legs. “If we both don’t start moving soon, we’ll be toast.” He gave a light chuckle, and even though it was a tiny bit comical, you tried not to laugh. You finally stood up from the pile of dust, however glancing down at it still before fully pulling away.

Flowey cleared his throat, it was apparent how awkward he was feeling about all this, and he mumbled “I think… he would have wanted you to make it home too.”

Glancing at Flowey, the flower looked elsewhere as soon as your eyes had tried to meet his, slowly carrying himself away from you and down the path that they had been taking a few moments ago. You mumbled to yourself “Maybe…” Before looking back down at the pile. A few traces of it fluttered, as if it were trying to escape towards the side rivers of lava. Looking back to how far Flowey had gotten already, you noticed he decided to stop for you, though not turning around, he sat his bowl down and continued facing ahead.

You knelt back down again, removing your backpack and unwrapping the napkin from around the few baked goods you had left. A little backpack lint wouldn’t hurt, you figured, and you wanted to carry something more important anyway. You took a big handful of the dust and placed it into the napkin, wrapping it up as securely as you could. You smiled, trying not to cry a little more, but mentally you figured it couldn’t hurt to try.

“You’re gonna make it. I promise.” You said softly, placing the dust into your backpack “I won’t forget you.”

Slipping the straps back on, you figured it was the right thing to do. As the hot winds blew the pile towards the lava, you took it as a small sign that perhaps it wanted to find an end. A part of you really didn’t want to do it, but the hint of fear that it was still alive but feeling tortured and hopeless in its pile made you keep moving. You carefully picked up handfuls, as much as you could, and back and forth you went, carrying it and tossing it gently into the lava. And when it was all said and done, you took in a deep breath and sighed, closing your eyes for a moment and simply standing at the edge. You hoped it would find peace.

Finally you turned around and walked after Flowey, following him in silence, rubbing your eyes with your dusty hands as you kept going. He returned to leading the way, however he suddenly said “There was someone like you forever ago. Unwilling to just let go of someone who had no way of helping themselves…”

You snorted in response, but that was it. You weren’t exactly in the mood for talking, but it didn’t seem like he was in much mood for it either, since he figured it was story time and you just needed to listen “They found a snowman once, before reaching Snowdin. A snowman that couldn’t move, because, well… it was a fucking snowman. It could talk, it could feel, but it couldn’t move on its own.”

“And so they went up to the snowman, and the snowman told them all these things. And when they told the snowman that they were trying to get home to the surface, the snowman asked “Take a piece of me to the surface with you, that’s all I would need.”

“This idiot does it. They carry the snowman even through Hotland, struggling to keep itself. Willing to die just to make sure they didn’t lose it.”

You laughed finally, looking at Flowey “Really? For a snowman?”

Flowey snorted “Really. They made it all the way to the end though… and the barrier broke…”

Your smile slowly faded, realizing who he was talking about. Oh…

“Everyone was freed, and they took the snowpiece away. And while the snowman was around, I asked “Hey, can you tell if they made it or not with your body part?” And they were still smiling, saying that they could feel the warm sun, the gentle breeze. And of course there was no point in talking to it anymore.”

“Eventually… a day later, they came back for the snowman. The snowman was thankful for their piece being carried to the surface, but they said one piece was all that was needed. But the human ignored them, picked up the snowman on this little red wagon, and carried it away.”

“I wonder how it’s doing now…”

Just imagining Frisk travelling all through the underground with a snowpiece made you smile, and it made you think of the amalgamate ash in your backpack. You wondered if it would be able to feel the sun on the surface. Or better yet, you wanted to bring the ashes to its family if you could find them. Maybe they would recognize it… maybe, no matter what, it would feel loved.

Just imagining taking the same path as Frisk, filled you with DETERMINATION.

“Well, let's hurry up. My dirt's drying.” Flowey broke through your thoughts, and he was right, you had to make it home now. Frisk was waiting for you, maybe everyone else was too if they had told other people.

You had… friends up on the surface who wanted you safe and sound, and you knew that when you got back home you would change your whole life after the events that unfolded while underground.

And you would definitely get a dog.

Notes:

> That awkward moment when you realize that this is the beginning of a toxic relationship

Summary:

“Hello underground! Welcome to another exciting episode of The Flowey Cooking Network!”

Notes:

> I'm going against my own morals for the sake of trying to update yall regularly.> I don't even have the next chapter written out other than the summary, and yet here I am posting this XD;> life's been hectic, sorry for slow updates. x_x

Chapter Text

Chapter Eighteen: And You Two Sang Along

You had honestly never been this hot before. And that was only because you had never found yourself so terrifyingly close to hot molten lava before.

Streams and streams of endless fire and lava surrounded you, steam seemed to burst and hiss through pipes, whistling as you passed by, and even though you were starting to sweat through your clothes, you could only imagine how Flowey felt being stuck in a pot of drying up dirt.

After the loss of the amalgamate and the sudden comforting gestures of Flowey, you found yourself feeling a lot more lighter around him, and less burdened and weary. Not so heavy over the previous events that had unfolded for the both of you, especially knowing that at this point he knew he was dangerous too. He had come a long way, just as far as you had, both of you starting to discover yourselfs more fully. Flowey was a strange case, mixed between denial of wanting to believe he had feelings, to knowing fully well that he had them and just couldn’t control them. A flower that could snap in an instant, and then regret every single moment in the next. He was like a coin flipping back and forth between heads and tails, and he didn’t have the option of choosing when to toss either.

But it’s not like you were any different. Sure, you were less violent and wanted more than anything to avoid any forms of violence at all costs, but you found yourself struggling between being bold and being hesitant. Fearful and curious, wanting more than anything to explore and do things for yourself at whatever cost… but not wanting to cause so many problems in the process.

You fell underground with the idea that you had no friends and hadn’t been able to make one since the disappearance of your best friend years ago. But now, well, you figured you had many friends. Frisk of course was one of them. After all, if they were just a co-worker, they wouldn’t go out of their way to smash a wall down for your safety. But after that rather intense lecture of, once again, managing to make a neutral Frisk pissed off at you, you were quite certain that they at least cared about you as you did them.

Not to mention their caretaker, Toriel, and even their friends that you definitely planned on hanging out with more often when you got back to the surface. You were going to try and be someone brand new. All work and no play can make people like you very dull and as much of a nuisance as Jerry.

And even you, someone who was pretty neutral with everyone, didn’t like Jerry. You had no words to describe who that monster was, just that Jerry was annoying.

And on top of that, your want and desire for adventure was slowly calming down… especially learning about the risks that came along with it. Perhaps a simple researcher job wasn’t as bad of an idea as you had originally thought. Now you knew why Frisk wasn’t so excited about exploring anymore. They had been there, done that, and definitely didn’t want to go through it again. And now that you had your own taste, it was safe to say you’d retire from archaeology and stick to research.

The reminder of Frisk’s words seemed to be so sudden that you stopped in your tracks for just a moment, wrinkling your nose in displeasure as if you had smelled something foul. There was nothing around you but the overheated world of Hotland, the sounds of bubbling magma, and the hissing of the steam pipes that seemed to run throughout not just the ground but overhead as well. And of course Flowey, who was still leading the way, leaving you behind him to your own thoughts. Even though you felt much more comfortable around him than before, it still felt somewhat awkward bringing up anything personal with him.

But that was out of your control, as well as Flowey’s. It had to have been Frisk, Flowey said that they were the last person to have such a strong willpower and determination to harness the abilities of SAVE’s and RESET’s, but even Frisk seemed surprised and curious as to what happened. Frisk didn’t sound as if they were the one to have rescued you from death. Frisk probably could have just reset back to before you fell underground too, if it wasn’t for the promise they had apparently made to Flowey that they wouldn’t reset ever again… but you wondered why they hadn’t at least tried recently...

You remembered back at Alphys’ lab after you woke up in the bed with Flowey at your side, asking him who the main character to this story was. And instead of giving you a straight answer, he responded with “When you were slowly dying, what did you feel? Do you remember? How determined were you to live?”

And you remembered not being determined all too much. You remember easily wanting to let go. Life was too hard and too much. You were done. And you told Flowey that no, you didn’t feel much, and even as you felt your soul breaking down and beginning to crumble, you found yourself giving in and ready for eternal release.

There was another character in this little story of yours, who wasn’t Flowey, nor Frisk… and it definitely couldn’t of been you. So who, you wondered, wanted to save you so badly? If that were the case, then that explained why Frisk felt something fluctuate. Because Frisk’s powers had dwindled, and been transferred to someone else. Flowey had said that the abilities transfer with whomever has the most DETERMINATION, and for years it had been Frisk. But even Frisk felt something was off, Frisk didn’t save you from death…

But whoever didn’t want you dying also didn’t bother resetting you back to safety, before you met Flowey.

So whoever it was was either using you as a playpiece in a game, which indeed wasn’t true…

Or they didn’t have full power just yet, and the abilities were split.

You wondered how these ideas came to you, before you finally returned to reality. Your entire body was soaked in sweat and you were feeling absolutely disgusting and uncomfortable. As if on cue, Flowey had finally stopped and turned around to notice how far you were compared to where he was at. He was up ahead by now, and you slowly followed behind him to catch up.

“In dream land, as usual?” Flowey asked with a little smirk across his lips, half lidded eyes glancing your sweaty form over in that smug look of his. You huffed under your already hot breath “I got distracted. But anyway, why’d you stop leading the way?”

He turned around slightly and moved his bowl out the way, just so he could reveal a steam vent with an arrow pointing across the rather large chasm between the next space that you two needed to get to in order to move forward. Flowey looked back at you then “These are the steam vents, you step on it and it’ll toss you across.”

That sounded super dangerous, not to mention hot steam was known to, say, burn a person’s skin off.

“I don’t think so.” You simply commented.

Flowey scoffed “It’s the only way to move forward, so we don’t have a choice, sweetheart.” He rolled his eyes “Why are you suddenly afraid?”

“I’m not afraid.” You defended yourself and pounded your chest, causing your shirt to stick even more to your skin “I just have common sense, and steam vents in a hot location like this? The moment I step on that thing it’s just gonna burn me.”

“Not by a lot.” Flowey pouted, and you glared. This only caused him to chuckle, and he shook his head quick enough to let his petals sway with him “I’m kidding! It won’t hurt, it’s magic you dumbo.”

“Did you just call me dumbo?”

“Look, I’ll even test drive it for you if you’re that much of a wimp.” Flowey said this with his signature smug look returning to his features, and he began to waddle himself closer to the vent. So many things could go wrong here, you thought with a worried frown planted on your face. Either the moment he got on the vent he would be a roasted veggie platter, or even if it did work there was no guarantee that he would land safely across, right? He could accidentally be tossed into the chasm of lava.

You hesitated and reached out “Flowey! Wait a sec--”

“Now what~” He groaned, rolling his head and his eyes at the same time before turning his attention back to you. He was probably trying his best to keep his patience, even though he wasn’t doing a very good job at it. You fidgeted “Let’s try it together, okay?”

Flowey turned himself around so he could fully face you again, bowl, tendrils and all “Seriously?”

“Remember back when you told me how to get to Snowdin?” You asked as you fiddled with your fingers, kneeling down now before Flowey to get on his level, even though it was apparent he seemed to hate that as his look went sour. You continued anyway “You didn’t want to tag along with me, even though in the end I found out you were in Snowdin anyway as if you had been watching over me the entire time…” As if you hit the mark dead center, Flowey’s annoyed expression changed to embarrassment. Either the heat of Hotland was getting to him, or Flowey was blushing profusely. You had the courage to smile then at this as he looked away “Flowey, there’s seriously no point in us splitting up again. You’re gonna help me from now on, right? And besides, you even said so yourself before I left the ruins that if I really needed you that badly and couldn’t handle something on my own, then if I called you you’d hear me and come to my rescue.”

You couldn’t believe this was all just some excuse to go across together.

“I never said rescue…” Flowey muttered almost breathlessly, and you grinned more “Flowey, this is me calling for help and you said if I called you you’d come to my rescue.”

“That’s not technically a call.”

“Flowey~ I’m gonna do it.”

“Don’t do that.”

“Flowey~!”

“Why are you like this why are all humans fucking like this--”

You suddenly screamed “FLOWEY HELP!”

“Fucking fine! Okay?!” Flowey yelled back, almost too easily he responded to your fake cry for help with a snap “Just don’t yell so close to me. You’ll make my head explode.” He grunted then, nudging with his head in the direction of the vent behind him “Pick me up and just step fully on it. It’ll be quick, let’s get this over with we’ve already wasted enough time.”

It was funny how things switched up for the two of you, you went from rushing Flowey to get a move on, to wanting to relax and enjoy yourself as Flowey was rushing you. Flowey was moreso concerned with Frisk probably lashing out at him if you wound up late, but to you… you found yourself more relaxed knowing that there actually was a way out now. You didn’t need to rush all too much, there was an escape so no matter what things would be alright.

Finally you could go back to what you did best, taking your precious time enjoying the underground. You knew you were too preoccupied to write anything down anymore. Your research journal was at the back of your mind.

As you did what he had instructed, picking him up in your arms, you carefully stepped closer towards the steam vent that, sure enough, pointed across the chasm but also blasted hot steaming air upward. Once more you hesitated, even as you held onto Flowey. And of course he probably noticed how tightly you were holding onto him, considering he then looked back to you with an arched brow and went “What gives? Just go already.”

“What’s gonna happen?” You tried to ask, though he sighed deeply “I already explained that part to you. You should know by now how I feel about repeating myself.”

You remained still. And he slowly turned fully to face you in his makeshift flower pot, lifting his head to look you in the eyes “Look. You’re holding me now, right? Meaning if anything fucks up then we’re both dead. Does that make you feel better? Knowing we’ll both die if it really is that bad?”

You whined “Not really.”

“Good.” Flowey ignored you and turned back around to face the other side “Now step forward and let’s just get this over with. There’s a lot more ahead so you better get used to it.”

He chuckled then “That is, if we survive this one of course.”

“Flowey don’t be an assclown.” You scolded and finally moved forward. He questioned “What the hell’s an assclown?” But before you got the chance to tell him, with one foot stepping forward onto the vent, suddenly the rest of you went flying.

Like an invisible giant grabbing your leg and flinging you across, you immediately let out a startled noise from the sudden force. Flowey joined in, but you only heard his hollering as you began to land, not to mention when you had pulled the bowl tightly to your chest to brace for impact.

You didn’t land well at all, as you had flown through the air as if something literally grabbed one leg to slam you towards the earth, you definitely felt like you were scrambling to keep yourself composed even as you screamed. And once you did land, you faceplanted hard, and tossed Flowey in the process, grunting from the force and carefully trying to lift to your knees. Flowey and his bowl rolled off as you sighed out from soreness, your teeth aching from the face slamming into the earth. You wound up with dirt in your mouth, and you spat as much as you could before wiping your lips on your sleeves. You glared towards Flowey who, though wobbling around like he were drunk, was already trying to scrape and scavenge any spare dirt to shove back into the bowl.

You had a need to inform him “Flowey that was NOT safe!”

“You did it wrong!” Flowey shouted back, filling up the bowl and jumping into it with a small huff. He wriggled to get comfy, before sprouting his vines to help him crawl over towards you. Almost nonchalantly he began to dust you off with a tendril, like some sort of mother making sure their child was clean and well groomed “The only reason it wound up being ‘unsafe’ was because of you! You probably fucked it up somehow--”

“Me?!” You tried to swat his vine away from it doing... whatever it was doing “You told me to just step on it and we’d shoot across! I mean-- sure we did but that was more like a lift and shove! Are we going to land like this every time?! We’ll be covered in bruises by the time we get to the stupid wall and on top of that I’m pretty sure some of my teeth are loose--”

“Did you plant both feet on the vent?” Flowey then asked, his eyes dark and hollow as if on the verge of snapping. And you tried to think it over, letting your rattled mind settle. The last you could remember was casually making your way and landing one foot on the vent before it started to swing you across the chasm. And then you looked down to him “Well… no. Is that important?”

“Both feet need to be planted, that means both feet firmly placed on the vent.” Flowey retorted, crossing his leaves before his stem as his facial expression calmed(somewhat) “If you try that shit with one leg this is what happens. Your one leg shoots up first and you just fly after it. With your whole body though you’re gonna have a much better chance at landing on your feet than if you try one FUCKING LIMB AT A TIME.”

“I do not need all this stress right now.” You murmured with a small frown on your lips. Flowey opened his own in preparation to say something else, however he held himself back, sighing out heavily as he looked away “Look. Try and think. If you use your brain we can move forward faster.”

He said this so calmly, even if he was still insulting your intelligence. You found yourself shifting uncomfortably on your feet “I’m sorry…” You tried to apologize for your incompetence, even though it wasn’t really as big of a deal as Flowey was making it out to be. Then again, he only reacted in that way because you flipped out on him to begin with. Flowey shook his head as his petals swayed “No, it’s not that big of a deal. We didn’t die. But just try it again, we have plenty ahead of us for you to practice on anyway.”

Why did all of this feel strange suddenly?

It all felt strangely surreal? This feeling of contentment in travelling with Flowey. Him rushing you as you hurried onto the next vent that tossed you both spiraling over the chasm’s of fire and heat… this feeling of being relaxed as you two talked seldomly. Conversations would come and go, bickering here and there, but in the end it all felt so… relaxed. Was it because you were nearing the end of your journey? Because Frisk was waiting for you on the other side?

Because you were leaving Flowey?

...Because you wanted to cherish these moments?

Eventually you did get the hang of being tossed across using the vents. From one to another, you did so with ease in no time at all. But after so much jumping from one platform to the next, from so many heated air vents tossing you about and irritating your skin, eventually you did find yourself a little uneasy from the swift movements. And out of concern just before you reached the last one, Flowey actually demanded that you take a break. For the sake of your sanity.

“I don’t want you trying to throw yourself into the lava.” He snorted, just as you set him down beside you and you collapsed to rest on the hot dirt ground. Flowey’s bowl of dirt was officially dry, and you could tell it was effecting him because his petals were somewhat wilted from the heat. You were no exception, however you had the ability to sweat. Your clothes were clinging to you, and you found yourself removing the lab coat to wrap around your waist using the sleeves to tie in a knot and make it secure. You wanted to simply toss off your clothes and run the rest of the way naked, but you knew fully well that doing that would only hurt you, all things considered. You’d probably be more likely to burn your skin off without any sort of clothing on it.

“Are you okay?” You asked Flowey. Though it was obvious he wasn’t, he scoffed anyway “I’m more concerned about you. You look like you’re going to turn into a human pie.”

“You’re dirts dried out.” You ignored his comment, reaching over to poke a finger in the dirt. He pulled himself away slightly to observe your motions, before arching a brow at you as you pulled back. Flowey blinked “Not much can be done, the water stations are dried up… but there isn’t much longer before we reach some shade and hopefully a place with some supplies.”

You had an amusing thought “Want me to ring out my sweat in your dirt? That counts as water.”

Flowey simply stared at you for a long moment, almost as if he were a computer still processing your suggestion. Even if it was a joke, he didn’t seem to get it. Eventually he mentioned “I’d rather die, thanks.”

“Are you sure the next stop isn’t that far?” You decided to move around the rather cruel idea you had in mind “I just don’t want you dehydrating. If all else fails, even I’ll resort to drinking my own sweat.”

“That’s disgusting. You’re making me want to die.” Flowey breathed out in bemusement.

You nudged him lightly “C’mon.”

“It’s really not that far.” He glanced over towards the last vent that would toss the two of you across another chasm, and then past that area it seemed to all grow dark as a somewhat plain looking building loomed in the distance “You see that? It’s a building that should at least have air conditioning. Hopefully with it there will be supplies like water for you, and especially myself.”

“Okay,” You breathed in, lifting to your feet and sighing lightly as you tried to get comfortable again. It probably wouldn’t happen for a long while. The thought of entering air conditioning seemed grande and all, however you could only imagine that the cold air beating down on your sticky and hot body would make you feel even more uncomfortable until your clothes actually dried. You knelt to pick Flowey up, and you held him close again even though you knew there was no need and it only made your shirt tighter than it needed to be. “Let’s go.”

And once more the two of you were flung across the lava pits and to the other side.

The wave of heat made your mind play tricks on you as to how far the building actually was. Every time you took steps closer to its location, you felt like you weren’t actually getting anywhere. Your mouth was dry, the conversations between you and Flowey had suddenly died down because you just couldn’t stand the thought of talking any more without a glass of water, or anything cool to drink. You let out a few noises of confusion during your walk, and by the time you were actually getting closer to the building, you felt a lot better knowing it wasn’t some mirage and Flowey wasn’t lying to you.

Though, you did start to trust him again.

You found this out because he actually showed signs of concern for your mental and physical health now and then. Genuine interest in how you were feeling, even during times when he played the tsundere roll rather well, every now and then he would seem interested in knowing if you were actually okay. Whenever you missed a step and stumbled, his vines would immediately touch your shoulders as if he could honestly keep you from collapsing, and he would make sure you were steady before you moved on.

Things were getting better.

But sometimes you would feel your mind wander back to when he had actually… hurt you…

…

But before you knew it, suddenly you were right in front of a door.

Lifting your head, your eyes skimmed the large building curiously. Flowey seemed to do the same “Yup, just as it was left.” He mentioned, and the door lifted open for you to step inside with ease.

The inside of the building was completely dark, and you weren’t able to see much of anything. An old and rather dusty smell floated in the air, it also smelled somewhat similar to burnt marshmallows on a campfire. You didn’t want to wander further in, considering it was already dark as is, and eventually the automatic door behind you slowly shut itself, fully enclosing you both in darkness. As Flowey had explained earlier however, at least there was air conditioning. The cool air definitely made you feel a lot better and more comfortable, and suddenly with the click of a switch the lights flashed on directly ahead. Spotlights shined down on, what appeared to be, a set for some sort of cooking show… all things considered. There was a kitchen-like set up, but there were cameras and audience seats in the dark, all facing towards the set as if it were an actual live show. Or at least what it used to be.

“This looks like the setup for a food channel.” You commented, slowly walking further into the building just so that you could wander into the kitchen. You went to the counter and set Flowey down to let him roam as well, before testing out the sinks. Surprisingly as soon as you turned the faucet on it worked, and almost too thirstily you leaned your face down into the sink to drench your head and hair in the cool water.

Tasted like metal.

“Sweet release.” You garbled while drowning yourself in the water. When you had your fill you whipped your head back, letting your hair toss in the process and the droplets of water fly in the air. Apparently that was enough to lure Flowey, who was suddenly right beside you at the kitchen sink, and sliding his bowl underneath the stream of water to let his roots and dirt soak. However you made certain that, after awhile, you pulled him out yourself “Plants can die from overwatering too, ya know. Be careful.”

“Bite me,” He hissed under his breath, even though he also added a content sigh “I was as close to death as you were, let me enjoy some sweet release, too.”

There was no use bickering back and forth like a old married couple, you decided against retorting how plants can easily get over hydrated, and you left the sink to make your way towards the fridge. You could hear the sink water still running, but as you tried to open the refrigerator door that strangely wouldn’t budge, suddenly it was turned off. A sign that Flowey had his fill, and that he probably caught you struggling. You grunted “Why isn’t it opening?”

“Do you seriously need help with that?” The golden flower asked, and though you shook your head and continued to yank and pull, eventually you did back away to make room for Flowey’s vines. He didn’t leave the sink, but he stretched his green thorny vines all the way towards the fridge to wrap around the handle to both the fridge and freezer, only to be showing the same amount of strength you had. Unable to open the doors himself, he growled under his breath as he tried to force it open. To no avail, of course.

“Is it glued shut?” You asked as he finally pulled his tendrils back to himself, and you checked behind the fridge as if that would help you open the door somehow. As Flowey probably explained that there must have been something wrong with it, you realized that the fridge wasn’t even plugged in.

Infact, you realized that there were no cords for it to be plugged in at all.

“It’s fake.” You said dumbly.

“Well, I guess that takes care of that.” Flowey was waddling and dragging his bowl across the counter space and past the kitchen appliances that were also fake, opening a few of the cupboards as if still searching for things, but soon enough he made a noise that alerted you. Walking his way to see what he had found, Flowey revealed that one of the cupboards had plastic cups, plates, even a case of eggs, milk, and a bag of what could have been sugar. His tendrils began to slowly pull all these things out and display them onto the countertop, and he sighed “These are fake too.”

“So nothing was really cooked here? It was all just for show?” You weren’t exactly amused, but Flowey simply shrugged his leaves as he then took out a large bowl “I suppose not. Not that I watched much of whatever was on the television. I think it was a Mettaton Cooking Show.”

It seemed pretty legit, from what you knew of the famous celebrity. They were more of the acting type celebrity rather than the type that did cooking shows and DIY experiments.

As the two of you stood there in silence, you mostly watching Flowey open the egg carton and begin to drop the plastic eggs into the bowl, you suddenly got an idea. The fact that Flowey was already preparing a fake dish with fake ingredients made you laugh a little, but the idea you had in mind was hopefully a fun one. Glancing around some more and rushing away from him, you started to search the other cupboards for things. You did manage to find a paper pad, one rather shaved down pencil, and a plastic chef hat, but that was all that was left in those set of cupboards. The chef’s hat was pretty huge for Flowey’s head, but it would do for the idea you had in mind. Pulling the items down to the counter space, you scribbled on the paper pad while also tossing the chef hat towards Flowey “Wear this.”

Flowey grunted, stumbling a bit to catch the hat and barely saving it from hitting the floor. He looked it over between his tendrils “Um, why?”

“Lets take a break!” You said in response to his confusion, putting the pencil down and turning the pad of paper to face Flowey so he could read what you had written; The Flowey Cooking Network.

“The Flowey Cooking Network?” Flowey repeated as his eyes scanned the page over, then he narrowed them at you “Are you kidding me?”

“Come on, having your own TV show would be great!” You tried to cheer him on, though it didn’t seem to work all too much. You approached him and took the chef’s hat from his vine, placing it carefully on his head so that his own petals would balance it “I’ll work the camera and you work the audience!”

“There is no audience.” Flowey murmured, though you could tell you were slowly convincing him, considering he only fixed the hat more on his head without removing it and flinging it across the room. You pouted as much as you could in hopes that your innocent appearance would lure him into the task “Play pretend~ you’re the best chef I know--”

You tried not to mention Toriel.

“--And you deserve your own show, don’t tell me you never thought about it? Cooking in front of people and having them just awe at your skill?” You nodded firmly, slowly pulling away from him with your pad of paper “Who knows! If the power still works, you could be broadcast all through the underground, right?”

“Highly unlikely.” Flowey mumbled in disinterest, even though he still wasn’t tossing the hat off his head or moving himself away from you. As annoyed as he seemed, he wasn’t exactly objecting, so you let out a small laugh as you took all the fake ingredients and brought them to the counter space that was closest to the front of the fake kitchen. Setting them all down, you then went back and took Flowey in your arms to place there as well “I’m gonna check the camera to see if it works.” You said gently, leaving him there as you made your way towards the dark; offset where the cameras stood at different stations, and farther in the back were all the seats for the guest audience that would watch live. You wondered if it really were that popular of a show back when everyone was underground, the audience seating wasn’t as large as you imagined most stages would be set up to hold-- but you also couldn’t judge considering you’ve never been to a live show for anything even remotely similar to this.

As you stood behind one of the main cameras that faced right at Flowey, you also spotted a small set of buttons that hung on a single cord to its side. You didn’t think anything of it, not even hesitating, as you pressed one… and immediately the whole building erupted in loud laughter. You jumped from surprise, and both you and Flowey looked around quickly as if it were a real audience of people laughing at the both of you, until you realized what you had pressed.

“Flowey there’s some audience tracks here right by the camera.” You snorted, though you said this mostly to yourself as the laughter calmed down, and looking to Flowey through the camera you could see how disturbed he had become from the sudden noises. He looked as pale as a flower could be. But ignoring your comment, he simply wondered aloud “There must be a generator somewhere for this building too. Why haven’t I seen any of this shit before, would’ve been nice back at the ruins.”

You interrupted his thought process “Guess what that means? That means the power works.”

Flowey grumbled in reply “Great.”

You snorted once more, pressing another random button, managing to get the invisible audience to ‘awww’ at his response as you pleaded once more “C’mon Flowey, we should enjoy this air conditioned building for as long as we can before we keep going, right? So let’s do it!” You looked over the recording camera, flipping it on and managing to get the recording light to flicker. It’s red light was a signal that it was on air, whether or not it actually could still record anything you had no idea. But suddenly you saw Flowey attempt to work with your sudden energy as he let his tendrils begin to search the cabinets beneath the counter he sat on top of.

You pressed another audience sound button, and the imaginary audience began to applaud loudly as you quickly held the written title you created in front of your camera. You made a mental note to work more on typography, considering your art skills were terrible and the title you created looked like an infant dragged a pencil around a piece of paper using their mouth.

“Hello underground! Welcome to another exciting episode of The Flowey Cooking Network!” Pulling it away then, you let the camera refocus on Flowey who, surprisingly, had perked up almost immediately. A grin so wide his teeth were showing as he held two vines up as if he were doing the most generic anime shrug gesture known to man. He even took the fake eggs from the bowl he had set them in and was starting to juggle them. He did it with ease, easy enough to even impress you and distract you from your narrator voice. You continued, in as deep of an announcer voice as you could “We’re back with your host, Chef Flowey! Hey Flowey, what’re ya gonna make us today?”

“Why, howdy there~!” Flowey stuck out his tongue, and you covered your mouth in an attempt to not let out a loud laugh as he tried to seem as chipper as he could. He stopped juggling, grabbing the bowl quickly and catching the flying eggs within it before setting it back down “It’s me, Flowey! Flowey the flower~! And I’m glad you asked that, you big douche.” Mumbling the last bit of words and suddenly glaring at you, you cleared your throat to signal him to keep going. As he did, his happy face returned “Today, I’ll be making some… let’s just go with cake! Use your fucking imagination!”

Flowey gestured to the ingredients before him, and you pressed a button on the audience track in hopes of it getting the crowed to ‘oooh’ in interest. Thankfully it was as you had hoped, as soon as you pressed the button the invisible crowd ‘oooh’ed with wonder as Flowey proceeded “For any kind of cake, you’ll always need your three basic ingredients! Sugar, eggs, and milk! Of course we’d need flour too, some vanilla and perhaps a few dashes of different spices but of course we don’t fucking have any with our privileged asses now do we~?”

You pressed a button on the audience track in hopes of it sounding like an angry mob-- but instead everyone laughed at you as you remained silent behind the camera. Flowey was pretty much ecstatic at this point “Now! Let’s get down to business, shall we~? Okay! You want to mix your wet and dry ingredients separate instead of adding them all together from the get go, got it? You would usually require two separate bowls for things like this, and maybe even a mixer! But, unless you have that much time to waste hunting through your local garbage dump for equipment like that, then I guess one bowl will have to do!”

There Flowey began, gesturing to the fake eggs he had tossed into the bowl earlier, and then another tendril grabbed for the empty bag of sugar and the fake milk carton as he hummed all the while ‘pouring’ the invisible contents inside. For a moment, you really did think he was getting into the charade. He seemed pretty interested in it. Whether it was the fact that there wasn’t an actual audience, or that he was in his little cooking zone, you couldn’t tell. But it was as if he had forgotten you were even there. He stirred the fake cake mix in the bowl with a vine for a little, before looking around and spotting a wooden spoon to use instead. He stirred so fast that the eggs were in a vortex gliding along the sides of the bowl, and soon enough one egg flew out and away. You pressed a random audience track button, and the audience started to cry.

“Now now, there’s plenty of eggs where that came from!” Flowey cooed, soon enough sprouting more vines to lift himself up from the counter, carrying himself all the way over to the display oven “And so~ after everything’s been stirred you pour this massacre into a cake pan! Then toss it into the oven, like so!” Without even hesitating (or checking to see if it could even open first) his vine wrapped around the handle to the oven, yanked it open, and he tossed the bowl so quick into the oven that it was almost a blur. You blinked, having the audience applaud his hard work all the while Flowey bowed for them in gratitude “Thank you, thank you~ you all are so kind! But we haven’t even gotten to the best part!”

You had made sure that the camera followed Flowey all this time and that the red light was blinking, and soon enough after his little mention of the best part, he opened the oven and pulled out-- wait...

...was that an actual cake?!

It was a tiny little thing, a small pan sized vanilla looking cake, no decorations, it was pretty simple looking. You were completely shocked that it looked like a normal cake, and you looked around as if magic had to have been involved somehow. Who knows, maybe it was?

“The best part is the taste test!” Flowey finished finally, taking the cake back to the counter and suddenly he had a vine hidden behind himself. His eyes suddenly looked directly at you, through the camera he simply stared at you with a wide grin and his ‘innocent’ beady eyes as if daring you to do something. You were confused at first, but then suddenly he commented “I’d like my lovely assistant to help me with this taste test, after all, they’ve worked so hard for this!”

You peeked from around the camera then, glaring at him. You called out “I think an audience member would like you to try it.”

Flowey giggled “No, I insist.” And without even a warning, a large vine had stretched out all the way towards you and the camera. He wrapped it delicately around you and began to gently pull you closer. Any form of resistance resulted in you being squeezed more and tugged along a bit more roughly, so you simply complied nervously. You still pondered as to how he managed to make a cake out of fake ingredients, trying to figure out the trap or the magic that was behind all this.

“Here you are!” Flowey unwrapped himself around you and pulled back, suddenly revealing the vine that had been hidden behind him-- and the tip of it was bright red and flowery. It only took you a moment of staring to realize what you were looking at. The only time you had seen his vine in such a state was back at Alphys’ lab when you two were having sex… so with it’s appearance you were even more nervous.

Flowey was practically cooing at you, a surprisingly low and sultry voice “Now... let’s apply some icing to the cake that I’m sure you’ll love. I do believe I heard you enjoy honey, yes?”

You swallowed the lump in your throat.

“I’ll take that silence as a definitely!” Flowey snorted, his eyes narrowed as he stared at you, all the while he stuck out his tongue and suddenly the red flower-like tip of his vine began to carefully drip a clear sticky fluid all over the cake he had somehow prepared. As soon as it released, you could smell the strong and all-too-familiar scent of sweetness waft in the air, the honey scented cum was dripping all over the baked good. Your stomach churned, but like anyone who had suddenly connected a certain type of smell to a memory, you could feel your shorts getting uncomfortable as you shifted on your feet. It was to be expected, you two banged so much that anything that smelled remotely close to honey made you suddenly shiver, just as you were doing now. You swallowed down your nerves, his cheeks were already getting flushed just like yours were, but he was pretty good at playing pretend too… so you had no idea whether he was serious or not.

“Here you are. A freshly made glaze just for you.” He commented gently, and then another vine was used to actually slice into the cake. As he lifted the slice upward, it was revealed that… well, he definitely didn’t make it himself.

It was old. Inside of the slice were spots of white and green and black, it looked completely sickening. And not only that, but suddenly the smell of must and mold hit your nostrils… and that mixed with honey made your stomach churn in a whole new way. You were pretty certain if he kept it close for too long you’d throw up all over him. Flowey the prankster.

“Take a bite.” Flowey insisted, the honey dripped off the sides and down his vine. The top of the cake looked pretty well conserved, however the insides were disgusting, and you refused to even try. You didn’t inch any closer, however he was carefully beginning to lift it and hover it before your very eyes, near your mouth, as if he would force feed it to you in any moment. You were pretty sure that as soon as you opened your mouth you’d throw up all over his nasty cake. Technically, not even his cake… it must have been a cake that was abandoned years ago when everyone had left the underground for the surface.

Flowey’s smirk was unmoving, an invisible brow arched in curiousity as to what you would do. As if you were trying to impress someone and didn’t want to embarrass yourself on ‘live television’. You swallowed down whatever was trying to escape your throat, and you simply sighed out “Is this gonna be one of those food shows~?” You teased, wiggling a bit as you forced your face to redden “Flowey… I didn’t think you’d show the public how kinky you were. Did you just jerk off on camera?”

Flowey’s face reddened just the same, he even hesitated and pulled back slightly, before he persisted “What are you talking about? This is just an ordinary cooking show, sweetheart. Why not take a bite of this cake I made you, hm? I recall you wanted me to make you some cake--”

“I’m pretty sure…” You slowly spoke, whispering as huskily as you could “That I asked to see a bun in your oven… not a cake.”

Not like you could get pregnant, nor did you have any idea whether a flower could, but apparently he got the hint and suddenly he had dropped the slice. But as if he were turned to stone, his vine remained lifted in the air before you, simply frozen in time as not just his flowery face turned beet red, but his petals had turned pink from the sudden attention. You snorted, leaning forward and licking the bead of honey that had ran down his plant limb, all the way up to its tip, and you leaned forward and kissed his forehead “Nice cooking~”

“F-Fuck you…” Flowey managed to mumble, squirming away and finally, officially, tossing his chef hat off his head and to the floor “I hope you’re happy, you ruined my show!”

“Like I was gonna eat some moldy cake, jerk.” You snickered, leaving him to his groveling as you went to the camera to refocus it on Flowey. You made sure to zoom in on his still pinkened face “Any last words for the audience, chef Flowey?”

Flowey grimaced, his petals quickly closing around his face in order to hide from the camera. Suddenly camera shy, you snickered as you went in front of the camera and waved “I think we’re done here have a good night everyone and don’t forget to tip your chef with kisses!”

He mumbled loudly into his petals, as if muffling into a pillow “BITE ME!”

Notes:

> HAPPY ANNIVERSARY UNDERTALE-- and happy anniversary Toby Fox for making such a wonderful game for so many people to enjoy and love and cherish. <3 If It wasn't for this game, I would never have been inspired to write this sorta stuff, let alone meet so many awesome people that I know now. Or even be apart of a dating sim project that I'm in. So thank you, and here's hoping there's another strong year for the fandom, the game, and to you, Toby.

Summary:

Your fingers trembled as another crack sounded in the crumbling earth, your mind racing with fear. Would DETERMINATION get you out of this situation too?

Probably not.

Notes:

> HAPPY NEW YEAR! Technically it's 8:30PM for me as I post this, so if it's already the new year for you then YAY! If not then HERE'S A GIFT FOR STICKING AROUND!> holy fucking shit 309 kudos???

> I made it my goal to finish this chapter before the year ended, as a surprise to remind everyone I'm not dead and neither is this story!> Thank you everyone for your patience! This is kind of a short chapter, but still full nonetheless. I hope you guys enjoy it!

Chapter Text

Chapter Nineteen: And It Repeated

He wouldn’t even look at you as the two of you made your way out of the building. Flowey had uncovered his face, however he kept his golden petals curled around himself, perhaps as an attempt at making certain he could not only see where he was going, but so that he still didn’t have to look at you nor would you be able to see him. His tantrum was something you didn’t really care to discuss either, you went on like everything was fine, especially since… well… it was his fault in the end. You were sure of it this time.

From what you recalled he was willing to not only try and get you to eat moldy cake, but a cake covered in his… well…

His glaze, so to speak.

Jizz cake, pretty much. No thanks.

Of course you had a questionable moment of asking yourself if it was really that bad. Considering you had swallowed plenty of his honey-fluids before.

So the jizz wasn’t the nasty part of it all but it was still a bit much to top onto a crusty piece of cake--

Anyway, returning to the moment at hand, you didn’t exactly find any reason to apologize to him. You were quite certain that’s what he was expecting, after all; some sort of apology for embarrassing him in front of an imaginary audience. It’s not like anyone actually saw what the two of you were doing, it was all just pretend. And yet during the final moments of the show he suddenly got as into it as you wanted from him, only for him to try and force feed you some rancid food. It really wasn’t your fault. But why did you find yourself feeling guilty anyway?

Probably because of Flowey’s looks. He had the mentality of a psychopath but the appearance of a gentle and delicate flower. Kind of like how some five year olds could get away with murder just by crying and pointing to someone else, looks were always deceiving. Someone could be covered in blood from head to toe and the moment they pretend to freak out and blame someone else they’re suddenly a victim.

Just like good ol’ Flowey, sulking and giving you the cold shoulder, making you think that you honestly were at fault when… seriously, you were not to blame.

Even Frisk looked like a pretty chill character, until you pissed them off.

During the silent walk, the two of you made it to an elevator that carried you up to a second layer of Hotland. This layer felt all the more hotter than the first below you, considering heat rises and you were now receiving everything (and then some) from the first level you just escaped. The elevator itself felt like it was full of steam, boiling you alive. You wish you could have compared it to a sauna, however you were certain that a sauna was meant to be more relaxing and less ‘melt your skin off’. Soon enough, the doors to the elevator finally opened, just in time for you to evacuate. You practically dragged yourself out of it, gasping for breath that just wouldn’t come.

You looked behind you to check and make sure that Flowey was doing alright. He waddled as casually as a flower could in a bowl full of damp dirt.

Catching you eye him, his flower petals surprisingly didn’t curl up again to hide himself. He actually seemed to perk up a bit as he returned the gaze and cocked his head slightly to the side in wonderment “What is it?”

“The steam isn’t killing you?” You breathed out, as if you had gone on a hundred-mile jog through the Sahara. Your skin prickled with tiny beads of sweat, your hair sticking to your forehead, your neck, and probably starting to get a bit frizzy from the humidity.

“If it were a dry heat, like the first level, sure I’d die.” Flowey commented, waddling past you as he began to lead the way “But thankfully it’s steam. It’ll be uncomfortable, but I’ll survive.”

And that was pretty much all you would get out of him. Once again, he returned to a silent state as he began to lead the way as if on a mission. Which, technically he was. His mannerisms reminded you on how switched things had gotten since your call with Frisk. Flowey was on a DETERMINED mission to get you to the end of the Underground, while you were now a bit more relaxed than you had been. What was the rush? Frisk was going to save you, so now was a better time than any to enjoy the sites and to discover more on the monster history you had grown so fond of. Not that you had taken notes recently, which you tried to remind yourself to keep doing.

It was a long (and humid) walk to the next set of steam vents that would kick you across the lava chasms. He waddled ontop of the vent fully before it sent him flying through the air, and thanks to his tendrils, he landed himself safely on the other side. This time, Flowey went on his own, without even bothering to ask if you wanted to carry him this time or not. Like stated, you were pretty sure he was still sour over the ordeal at the television studio.

“Flowey!” You shouted at him. Sure, you could have gone another hour, or day, with the somewhat-silent treatment, however the steam vents were definitely something you didn’t want to take a chance jumping across alone. With most of the Hotland area you felt uncomfortable about being left to your own devices, especially considering these devices dealt with intense heat, and the threats of getting severely injured. If not injured, possibly dead from falling into the lava.

“What?” In the same curious yet dull tone he had used on you before, he once more cocked his head slightly to the side and looked at you from across the way. A small brow arched, probably pretending to be confused as to why you needed him when, in actuality, it was obvious why.

“You know what.” You hissed at him, frowning as you looked down at the air vent that pushed hot air upward to the already heated atmosphere “I don’t want to jump across these things alone, you know that! Why didn’t you wait for me?”

“Oh. Right.” He didn’t sound as if he forgot. Flowey sounded as if he didn’t care. “Sorry about that. Just jump across this one, I’ll wait here.”

“Why don’t you fix your attitude, while you’re at it?” You figured now was a better time than any to ask him about his behavior. At least while he’s paying attention to you, who knew when he would return to giving you the silent treatment. “You’ve been giving me the cold shoulder ever since we left the cooking show! What’s going on with you?!”

“There’s nothing going on!” Flowey snapped back, huffing and clicking his tongue as he glanced away “That whole cooking show thing was just a waste of time, and we could have gotten through all this crap sooner if it hadn’t been for your need to play with the camera’s!”

“Don’t act as if you weren’t enjoying yourself.” You scoffed, rolling your eyes at his dismissal. There was a pattern here, blaming someone else and playing the victim seemed to be his favorite role when it came to these situations. “You have to admit you had fun too, and you definitely got starry eyed at the thought of having an audience. So don’t try to toss all the blame on me, you’re only cranky because I rejected your prank.”

Flowey growled, throwing his head forward almost submissively “Just get your ass over here so we can keep moving!”

With a huff, you yelled once again to reply “FINE!”

“FINE!” Of course he needed the last word.

You angrily adjusted your bag on your back, taking another step closer, and once you had fully jumped onto the vent it practically torpedoed you in an arch to the other side. You landed on your feet perfectly fine as you moved off of the hot spot, however it wasn’t until you were next to Flowey that you felt a stinging pain on your ankle. With a small huff, you knelt down and checked to see what had happened, and easily you spotted the dark red mark.

Steam burned. A small patch, but it stung nonetheless.

“Great.” You mumbled with a frown “I thought you said this thing wouldn’t hurt.”

“Maybe we’ve gone through so many that your skin got irritated.” Flowey sounded like he was actually defending the air vent, leaning his face closer for inspection purposes. A bit of your sock had been rolled down for the sake of showing it all to him, as if he needed proof that you were really hurt and not just complaining for attention. And only after poking it (and getting a painful response from you) did he decide that a little bit of light healing magic would do some good. As irked as he had sounded before, he let a surprisingly calm voice escape his throat “Hold still and relax…”

Watching him use his magic still seemed bizarre. Flowey had a tendency to only use it when you were asleep (or in the worst cases so far, unconscious from blood loss), so seeing his body suddenly produce a heavenly glow made you question if this were even the Flowey you thought you knew. After all, you only caught him using it twice; After having him almost kill you, and then after having almost killed himself. Every other time he had made sure you were sleeping, though you had no idea why.

The magic looked almost like fairy dust, a beautiful golden shimmer fluttered directly towards the burn on your skin, the light that shined from him radiated a rather comforting warmth, and the magic felt like a strange tickle as it mended your light wound. In no time at all, you had been healed, and just like that his glow had vanished as if it never existed.

“Thanks.” You rolled up your sock, smiling down at your covered ankle before looking back at Flowey. His petals curled, he looked away with furrowed brows but seemed to give his little leaves a shrug “Whatever. Let’s keep moving, before you kill yourself.”

You couldn’t help but snort at this, but just as soon as you had thought of a response, you felt the earth beneath you shake gently. It wasn’t rough, it was light yet noticeable. With a small shrug, you spotted the flower widening his eyes the exact moment the shaking began to gain intensity. Lifting up from your knelt position, you managed to catch Flowey sliding his bowl out of the way. It had all happened in what you could have marked as 2.5 seconds; the 2 seconds it took for you to realize that the entire space you were landed on was beginning to collapse, and the half-second it took for Flowey to instinctively dodge. As quick as your responses were in certain cases, this time it didn’t seem to work in your favor as the ground started to collapse and crumble. Pieces splashed into the lava down below, and you suddenly found yourself plummeting with it.

Thankfully what you lacked in response time you made up for in quick reflexes. (And unfortunately being too used to ‘sturdy’ landmarks crumbling beneath your feet) You let out a soft yelp as you caught the edge of the remaining land piece. However you just barely made it, hanging on with barely one hand, trying to get your other arm to swing upward. You made certain to sink your nails deep into the dry earth, hoping to secure yourself. Flowey, in his attempt to dodge the collapsing portion of the land, had been shot off through another hot vent to the other side, once again without you.

But thankfully, as if confirming he didn’t totally ditch you, you heard him call out from across the way “Are you alright?!”

“Obviously not!” You called back out, however not as strongly as you had hoped. You found yourself worried, stuck between wanting to climb up but also not wanting to cause yourself to fall down. The one piece of edge your aching hand held onto wasn’t as sturdy as you hoped, every moment you tried to swing your other hand up for support, you felt it wobble at your fingertips. You grunted “Flowey! Please--!”

“Hang on, I’m thinking!” He yelled back.

“Okay!” You breathed, only able to lower your head and try to hug the side of the rock. You looked down and around, attempting to find pieces of the earth sticking out for you to rest your feet on. If anything, you could find another way to get up yourself. “Take your sweet time! I’m just-- hanging around--”

“Please stop!” Of course Flowey had time to get pissed off at an accidental pun.

You heard the edge crack then, and it took all of your will power to force your arm to not give up. As fit and active as you were, you weren’t exactly the best at single handed pull-ups. You couldn’t hang on for much longer, and you couldn’t lift yourself out of the situation. Your fingers trembled as another crack sounded in the crumbling earth, your mind racing with fear. Would DETERMINATION get you out of this situation too?

Probably not.

“Flowey…” You mumbled under your raspy breath, the air was leaving your lungs faster than you were taking it in, leaving you breathless, tired, and weary. You were helpless, it was all up to Flowey now to think of something… and from the sounds of it, you couldn’t hear him yelling out any ideas.

And in that moment of regret, you felt the crumbling piece of rock give way, your only support keeping you hanging on. You couldn’t even let out a scream as you were sent falling down towards the lava.

The heat at your back, you simply closed your eyes and mentally prayed to whatever or whoever would telepathically listen. You could feel that same presence that haunted your dreams before, that comforted you, that broke you, that seemed to wrap around you as you fell. Almost dream like, you found yourself barely feeling the heat the closer you got to it. Almost as if you grew numb.

And faintly, you could have sworn you heard a gentle voice call out, as calm as you remembered it…

But at the brink of dropping in the lava below, you felt something wrap around your shoulders and arms, squeezing you in a tight embrace. The grip practically took your breath away, and in that same split second you had been swung back up into the air, thankfully opposite of the boiling bubbling sea of fire. You yelled in surprise from the sudden rescue, letting your legs make running motions as if the gestures would help guide you. Like running on air with the assistance of a bungee cord, what had saved you from death now granted you(what you thought at least in your still racing mind) the ability to walk on air. But the spring of imagination had been wiped away as your eyes finally travelled downward, catching a glimpse of Flowey below. His tiny size in that small bowl of his was slowly growing closer and closer as he lassoed you to the more study earth. And just before you, once again, were threatened with impact of another kind, he used another vine for you to land on, before letting you drop to the ground more safely.

You made an ‘oof’ noise anyway, even with the gentleness of your fall. It came naturally, of course. Almost as instinctively as a kid would cry ‘ouch!’ even if all they did was flinch from someone pretending to push them. Flowey seemed to blink at this, however his vines loosened their hold on you, allowing you to breathe more normally as you simply laid there and let your eyes close. You suddenly had a major need to rest.

“Are you alright?” Flowey waddled over to you, his voice directly before you as you slowly opened your eyes again. Seeing him right in your face made you blink slowly and pull your head back, but with a small sigh you gave him a nod in response, before carefully lifting up a bit “Yeah, I think so. You caught me just in time, Flowey…”

“You’re really accident prone, you know that?” Flowey was glaring at you, and though with a quick glance it looked like his usual angered expression, for some reason you felt a bit of worry and guilt in his voice, and even caught the same emotions in his eyes. Almost as if he sensed this, he looked away from you “Don’t fall behind, I don’t want that sorta shit happening to you, got it?”

It wasn’t that you fell behind, you didn’t react as fast as he did. However you didn’t argue, you didn’t have enough energy to argue with him about something that could’ve gone worse than expected. “Sorry about that. I guess I’m not as fast as reacting to this sorta stuff like I thought I was.” You apologized, even knowing it was out of your control and you didn’t exactly owe him one. With a small smile, you leaned down and placed a soft kiss on his flushed cheek “Thanks.”

Flowey smiled, finally returning your gaze, however only to give a surprisingly cocky response “Pretty sure I was promoted, I know you can do better than that.”

You arched a brow, smirking back at him as you fully sat up and crossed your legs. Promoted? What did he mean by that? Then of course as quick as you had thought of the question, you also thought of the answer. Flowey considered a promotion to be more than just a kiss on the cheek. You then folded your arms across your chest “Oh really? Promoted? After that cake stunt you pulled I’d say you were actually demoted… why would you think you were promoted? And to what rank, exactly?”

Flowey had gone from bashful to cocky rather quickly, but from your response alone he had went back just as fast. His face turned pink once again, and he grumbled in annoyance “Tch-- you know what I mean! Just… do it, already…”

Getting him to beg for it didn’t turn out as well as you thought it would, you reminded yourself. And flashbacks to him turning into a crazed psycho willing to kill you almost made the moment feel lost. You took a mental note that, well, if the mood fit and he earned it, it wouldn’t hurt to grant him a reward of sorts. You vowed to not tease him too much, before you leaned back down to his level.

He looked at you, his eyes wandering your face for a second, before they became half lidded. Naturally, he was ready for it, and with a tiny smile you kissed him gently on the lips. For some reason, it felt as if it had been too long since the last time you two had kissed-- almost as if he were now a drug you couldn’t get enough of. You were already planning to deepen the kiss just a bit more, let it last a little longer, maybe even throw some tongue in there… but Flowey had pulled himself back. Just as quick as the tingling sensation risen, it had fallen away as he had.

You slowly opened your eyes and blinked, watching the petals around his face unfurl, as if he had curled them up to keep people from watching. You wanted to comment on them, but you simply smiled and bowed your head a bit. Flowey looked down as well, the two of you practically behaving like school kids “Well, let’s get moving. I know you want it bad but try not to kill yourself.”

You wrinkled your nose as you stood back up to your feet, following Flowey as he lead the way “That’s not what I want bad.” Your attempt to comment slyly on how thirsty you were was almost unnoticed, until he questioned--

“Huh?”

You cleared your throat and questioned back “What? I didn’t say anything. Let’s get going.”

And the journey continued, thankfully this time it wasn’t a dreary or awkward silence, the conversation was surprisingly light and calm. The only reason you considered this surprising was due to how Flowey had a need to either brag or nag when it came to talking at any given time, but this time his responses didn’t include either of those things. A part of you wondered if he was calm due to what had happened just moments ago, but then another part of you considered the subject matter; It had mostly been you discussing life on the surface with Frisk. Of course while he had questions and answers here and there, for the most part it was a one-sided conversation… all things considered.

You talked a bit about your work on the surface with Frisk, you discussed how you and Frisk graduated college together and decided to work together as well. While the two of you studied and graduated with similar degrees (Monster History studies), Frisk branched off towards becoming a Historian, almost similar to Toriel who was not just a teacher but in charge of taking care of the library’s books and collections of things, and you branched off into archaeology. You also mentioned to Flowey that, while the two of you did work together, you both had different ideas on how to gather information. Frisk often sent you to meet up with monsters for mere interviews, even though you often stated how much, and how often, you wanted to go to the Underground.

You added that Frisk deemed themselves ‘finished’ with adventuring and exploring because of the events that lead up to the monsters release.

“I wouldn’t blame them, to be honest.” Flowey added calmly, still waddling in his bowl. However he wasn’t leading any more once the two of you had started your in-depth conversation about you and Frisk’s history “After everything that happened to them down here, all the shit they had to go through, I really wouldn’t blame them for not wanting to be apart of things like that anymore.”

“But there’s something remarkable about discovering new things.” You defended, hoping that Flowey chose your side over Frisk’s “Things that were forgotten, or things that were never found? And when you find something that no one knows about or understands, you get to research things on your own, your own discoveries that make the moments… well, magical. Don’t you think?”

“I can see that side too.” Flowey smirked just a bit, looking at you for a moment before looking back ahead “But I think, unless you’ve been in Frisk’s shoes, you may not understand fully what had happened down here that makes them not want to do that again.”

“The thoughts of adventure for a greater cause is really… exciting to me.” You mumbled, sighing a bit at the realization Flowey wouldn’t take your side on this. Flowey suddenly asked “What do you think your friend had to go through when they wound up down here?”

“My friend?” You chewed on your bottom lip, questioning him and yet knowing fully well who he was talking about.

“The one you told me about,” Flowey persisted “The one you mentioned losing around Mt. Ebott back when we were looking at the castle. What do you think she had to go through when she stumbled down here?”

You were already regretting the conversation. You thought that you had made peace with it all, and yet thinking about her was already making your heart ache terribly. It was very clear that she had died down here somewhere, a ballerina fell down in nothing more than a child-sized uniform, how on earth was she prepared to defend herself against the things you were taught didn’t exist? Sure, the two of you believed, but you never expected to find them underground of all places. Let alone within Ebott. She was unprepared when she ran off hiking, unprepared for falling down below, and unprepared for the moment she--

“Are you still there?”

Souls still linger, right? Human souls are said to linger for much longer periods of time than monster souls… maybe there was a chance that--

“Hey.”

You blinked “Eh?”

Flowey snorted “I can assume it’s a touchy subject still, you don’t have to talk about it if you really can’t.”

“Yeah,” You swallowed the lump in your throat, finding your lips being terribly dry. You wished you had packed chapstick when you were preparing for your voyage down below “Sorry, I spaced out thinking it over. You’re right though, I can’t imagine what it must have been like. Especially for someone around Frisk’s age at the time… or her’s.” With a soft sigh of breath, you mumbled “My response was kind of selfish… I didn’t think about the consequences of wandering for ‘adventure’s sake’, and most of the kids that fell down weren’t running off to seek adventure, most of them fell down here on accident.”

“Sometimes, looking for something greater than what you have will bring consequences.” Flowey mumbled all the same, the two of you once more sighing in unison. Probably pondering over lost and long abandoned memories. The sadder thing about it all was the fact that they weren’t Flowey’s memories to begin with, when he thought back to times before he was a flower, before he was Flowey, even… he was thinking about Asriel. Asriel’s memories were intact, no matter how much he claimed he was no longer Asriel, never was or will be, they would always remain as if he were… or still could be.

And then, like before, it got awkwardly quiet again.

Being left to your own thoughts, and probably Flowey left to his, the silence wasn’t exactly terrible, so to speak. To you it felt kind of relaxing, letting your mind wander back to the thoughts you had before Flowey had butted into your brain. You got to change the subject from the sad idea of being abandoned Underground to the idea of SOUL’s once more.

From your’s and Frisk’s research, the human soul can live long past the physical form, and surpass the lifespan of a monster soul. And while more research is needed on monster ‘Boss’ souls, for the time being it is quite clear that human souls can possibly live even longer than those types as well. So you wondered, carefully, if the soul of your best friend still lurked somewhere underground.

But then you were reminded of something.

“I̴ ̷f̶e̸l̴t̷ ̵i̴t̵ ̵f̶l̵u̷c̴t̴u̷a̷t̴e̸…”

Something that made you backtrack once again to Frisk.

“Flowey.” You cleared your throat and raised your voice, to make sure that he could hear you over the bubbling lava below. He tilted his head a bit in your direction, his petals droopily followed, letting you know he was listening as you mentioned “The phone call I had, the one with Frisk… they said that they felt it fluctuate--”

“--whatever it may be, though… I’m not exactly sure.” You rubbed your chin a bit. Even Flowey had a moment of labelling you as a ‘main character’ of sorts. You had the power to BE SAVED, but not to SAVE, and not to RESET.

You were DETERMINED… but obviously not enough to gain the full blown power of what Frisk was, or had been, capable of.

“Frisk knows about the power having been transferred.” You added, Flowey lowering his head then as he waddled onward “Frisk sounded kind of sinister, but also confused. They made it seem like someone else had it other than them, but they also made it seem as if they no longer had it… and, we both know that it couldn’t of been Frisk who saved me, because they had no idea I was even in danger.”

You could feel Flowey fidget at the memory, you quickly moved on “Frisk probably thinks that I have the power now, but it can’t be me, or I would’ve definitely used it plenty. So either Frisk does have it and is lying… or someone… else has it now. Someone with more determination than either of us.”

You slowly lowered your head, almost mimicking Flowey’s gesture, to glance at the flower as he looked back at you. With an arch of his invisible brow and a snort, he scoffed “Don’t look at me. I’m just as surprised as you are-- obviously if I had enough DETERMINATION I’d sure as hell use it to get out of this mess.”

You weren’t sure what mess he was implying, but you decided to let it slide.

“It’s always been a human… with that power, right?” You tried to ask, jutting out your bottom lip thoughtfully “Monsters don’t have determination, so humans always had the power of saving and resetting?”

“I’m not exactly the right person-- flower to ask.” Flowey retorted “When Frisk fell into the Underground, I was shocked I no longer had that power… Frisk was the first human I met, and the only one to have ever had that power for as long as I remember. But from what I recall of Alphys’ studies, all humans had that power of DETERMINATION, which is exactly the reason I could SAVE and RESET… and when Frisk arrived, my powers were gone, but they gained control of it. Clearly that means something, right?”

“Frisk was the only one with this power all those years… and from what you said, it means that the stronger one’s DETERMINATION, then the more likely they are to gain the power. Multiple people can’t harness it, it’s only the best of the best…?”

The golden flower almost gleamed at your thoughts “Probably!” He seemed strangely ecstatic at your theorizing, however his wide grin calmed down a bit as he pondered aloud “So someone more determined arrived in our little tale… someone more determined than you and Frisk… someone more determined than me…” The two of you were close to approaching yet another elevator, that you could only assume would guide you to an even higher and perhaps hotter level than this or the first. You sighed at the sight of it, but soon enough Flowey stopped in his tracks, which caused you to stop in turn and look his way. He lifted a leaf to his lips, assuming a thinking position. For a rather sadistic smartass, the look of him thinking was rather adorable.

“Say…” He started, and since the two of you had stopped anyway, you got on your knees to relax your feet as you responded “Huh?”

“Have you felt anything… weird?” He tried to ask, though the puzzled look on your features made him shake his head slightly, his petals waving with him as he clarified “I mean… felt something or anything that could maybe be related to the concept of saving, resetting and what not?”

He was asking you to try and recall a moment that dealt with… saving… and resetting… before you even knew that was a thing?

Seeing your even more confused face made him facepalm, loudly-- or as loud as a leaf smacking a flowers face can sound “Don’t hurt your pretty little head, sweetheart. But try to think back, before all this. Before coming down here, before even knowing about the concept… think back.” He peeled his leaf away, then crossed it with the other over his stem chest “When was the last time you felt normal? When you felt as if life were sort of… automated, so to speak? When you felt rather neutral, you existed, but at the same time you… didn’t?”

While his words seemed rather strange, you found yourself thinking to a moment in particular. Strange enough, the exact moment before all this occurred.

“Oh.” You mumbled, and Flowey perked up as you spoke “Funny thing is, like you said my life felt pretty… bland. Just doing the same thing over and over, on repeat, day in and day out… but the moment I was prepared to approach Frisk about travelling to the Underground I felt-- well, something sparked within me. It was like a strange fire, I never thought about it before, the idea was fascinating but I never actually thought about travelling down here and then out of the blue my mind told me ‘Hey, maybe you should talk to Frisk about going Underground?’ I guess I feel like something woke up.”

“Something woke up…?” Flowey repeated as more of a question, though it was definitely rhetorical. “Something… or someo̶̭͚̥̿̃͋͠ͅn̶̘̩͖̣̈́̈̋̎ȩ̸̧̮͕́̈́̍̕…”

Did he emit static?

Was there even a point in commenting on that anymore? You simply nodded, and he asked another question “And yet… you’re certain you can’t reset or save? At all?”

You nodded once again with a little huff. And like before, the both of you found yourselves silently thinking over the discussion. There was something sort of scary about all this, the thought that no one you knew could save or reset any longer, and yet they were willing to save you. Frisk felt their power vanish the moment you left, and while they assumed it was you, and Flowey told you it was Frisk… it was all a big circle of nonsense. Either someone was lying, or there was someone else Underground with the two of you…

And you trusted Frisk completely, and thinking back to how badly Flowey hurt himself over almost killing you, you doubted he had the power to save you…

With a soft sigh, you turned your head towards Flowey, his back now facing you as he looked off in the distance. Shapes of cities and buildings weren’t too far off, but of course the bubbling lava, stalactite and stalagmite structures seemed to remove the calming atmosphere that Waterfall brought on the last time you spotted Flowey deep in thought. Back there he looked poetic and graceful, surrounded by fire he looked almost sinister.

“Sorry for bringing up fresh wounds.” You mentioned gently, giving a little frown as you nudged him with your hand “About… you know.” You figured having brought up the fact that you needed saving at all, let alone due to his actions, might have hurt him a bit.

The light bump made him suddenly aware of your presence, glancing at you with a rather small smile “Eh? What are you talking about? I’m fine, don’t be stupid.” He looked back over the horizon, and it was obvious to you that he was still thinking about everything that lead you here. All the events that had unfolded just for you to be here at this very moment, safe and sound beside him. You reminded him about what he had done back at Alphys’ lab, and you could only assume he was still regretful of that occurring. However, he still insisted “I can move on from things pretty easily, actually.”

Obviously that wasn’t true, you knew he was lying. Though, suddenly Flowey narrowed his eyes at you “Can you?”

“Of course.” You smiled right at him, finding yourself sliding your knees on the dirt just to move closer to him. You thought you could, at least… though thinking back to your best friend, you began to question yourself too. Could you really?

Flowey gave a somewhat awkward smile towards you in return, and before you knew it the two of you were simply staring at eachother. Looking into one another’s eyes, maybe even searching for something.

...maybe.

“Can I kiss you?” You dared to ask, and you supposed the silence suddenly breaking was what made Flowey jump a bit, as if he had been scared by something. You thought it funny how the two of you had gone back to asking if it was okay for a kiss or not, but of course it was also because of how you used to kiss him… which lead to certain events unfolding that the two of you didn’t want to think about. You couldn’t help it though, asking felt better than what you used to do… simply attack him with kisses. It felt more… formal.

Flowey’s awkward smile grew, gaining that familiar cocky attitude you remembered“Are you sure you wanna get back on that train?” He questioned, though as you moved yourself closer to him, and he naturally began to lean forward and lift his head, you simply said “Why not.” Before kissing him gently. You found your fingers gracing his stem, gently running your fingertips up, easily making his back arch forward, his head leaning back, and you followed him in almost a dipping motion.

And you wondered… who would save your life just to bring you back to this?

Bring you back to a person who not only wouldn’t hesitate to kill you, but was willing to kill himself over you, too?

Notes:

> And now for my New Year's Resolution(that I'm technically making before the new year but anyway-> PLAYGROUND, the whole fanfiction, will be finished within the year 2017.> I've been writing fanfiction since I was probably 14, or younger, however it's always easy to start writing or making something. Is it easy to finish and go through with it? Not at all. I've always written up and dished out plenty of fanfics and yet never went through with completing them. (If you find me on fanfiction(dot)net, the proof is in the archives.)>Technically, if I complete this resolution, PLAYGROUND will be my first ever completed chapter-story fanfic.>THE LAST HEART I plan on reaching a half way mark maybe even by the Summer... but I won't time myself with my stories, I'm just telling myself to at least finish this main one before 2018.

> I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who bothered reading this. Flowey is... not the most popular. But Flowey to me is life.> *struts Flowey Fanclub pin*> The fact that, as I write this, this fanfiction reached over 300 kudos? Means so much. It honestly makes me feel good that I'm not alone in my interests, whether it's just Flowey in general, or for those of you who are tentacle freaks like myself. XD It's just really refreshing that there are people out there who enjoy Flowey as much as I do. And I'm so happy to be writing this for everyone's enjoyment, including my own.

>Enough rambling though. I'm making this page look longer than it is and possibly disappointing a shit ton of people.> So, Happy New Year!> Love, Newspaper.

Summary:

Perhaps they hadn’t even just entered, it almost felt as if they had been around for awhile-- watching.

You shuddered “Hurry.”

Notes:

> This is it for awhile, I need to focus on my personal writing and my other chapter fic.> I've summarized a total of 31 chapters-- however, not knowing myself well enough, I won't officialize anything just in case I attempt to merge or split chapters. XD; Last thing I want to do is promise ya'll 31 chapters then go "LOL NVM ITS 25" or something XD

Chapter Text

Chapter Twenty: You Felt Them Crawl

Of course the elevator was hot. All the other elevators had been hot, so what made you think this one would be an exception?

You were sulking all the while travelling upward in the box machine, upward to yet another higher level of Hotland. You were beginning to ponder just how many levels there actually were, and even wondered how many levels of heat the human body could take before giving up from exhaustion… or simply boiling from the inside out. You really hoped this was the last time you had to climb any higher in Hotland, and as if reading your thoughts, Flowey spoke up “There’s only three levels of this place, so this should be it.”

“Thank god.” You breathed out in relief.

The sigh that escaped you afterward made Flowey smirk somewhat, though it seemed to fade slowly as the two of you continued travelling in the elevator, just as the steam began to dissipate. The humid air was slowly beginning to disperse, as if reaching a plane high enough that the heat could not catch up to the machine. And though you were grateful that you didn’t have to deal with sticky clothes and sweaty skin anymore, you still wondered just how high you were now. This time, if you did so happen to fall, how far of a fall would it be before slamming into rock? Or diving into lava?

Once the elevator had stopped, you still wrinkled your nose at the idea. It was too late now, the image of yourself bubbling in the ocean of fire was far more gruesome looking than going ‘SPLAT!’ against earth.

When the doors opened to present the new layer of Hotland before you, you simply knelt down to pick up Flowey’s bowl as you stepped out onto the solid ground. He didn’t react much to being carried, in fact he seemed quite comfortable with it. However, carrying his bowl around wasn’t your intention anymore either. You were fatigued, sore, and in need of rest-- and while Flowey himself didn’t have much weight to him, carrying around his bowl did. You huffed lightly “Flowey, your dirt’s completely dry now.”

“Well, I’ve made it this far, haven’t I?” He commented back, almost too quickly, as if he had thought it over. His body turned to you as you stood, inspecting him in your arms. The golden flower arched an invisible brow “What?”

“Just hang onto my arm or something.” You thought back to when the two of you worked together in Snowdin-- or at least, when you had tried to. Back then, Flowey took the chance to take control of your body for his own interests. While you definitely didn’t trust him at the time, now you didn’t mind letting him latch onto you. You weren’t exactly qualified to determine what plants could or couldn’t feed off of, however he seemed to eat normal food just fine… could sweat be treated like water? “It’s better than that thing, and if we’re getting out of Hotland soon, you’re gonna need a better vase or… something instead of waddling around in that bowl.”

“But you’re sweaty and gross.” Flowey was actually cringing.

Flowey, of all people, was cringing at the thought of clinging to your sweaty skin.

You snorted and winked “It’s not like you haven’t touched my sweaty body before.”

Two small vines emerged from the dry dirt, and like hands they moved back and forth as if Flowey were actually weighing the options “Sweat is sweat, it’s still gross no matter what situation it’s coming from. And besides, in those situations the heat of the moment gets me through them. By all means I’m pretty sure if I wasn’t focused on fucking your ass and was just paying attention to how much you were sweating, I probably wouldn’t touch you within a ten mile radius.”

You pouted “Wow, rude.”

“You were practically drowning in your own sweat.”

“Okay Flowey I get it.”

“And besides,” He ignored you with a snort “Sweat is mostly salt-- sure it’s got water in it, but there’s not enough clean water in sweat for it to even be considered a healthy replacement to water. Sweat has a lot of toxins, I’d need a lot of sweat to feel properly watered, but by the time you pour enough I’d probably die from how contaminated it is. Hell, if it were actually good for you then you’d be better off drinking it yourself.” He looked away “But you don’t, because you know it’s as gross as it sounds.”

“Okay.” You had to agree with him on that. And after all, Flowey used his (still surprising) intelligence to educate you in the process of dissing you for your dumb idea. “Maybe more specifically, I should’ve asked if dampness is better than dryness. I mean, your soil is completely dried out… are you sure you’ll be okay?”

“If I wasn’t travelling with you, I’d be able to move faster.” Flowey commented, snickering. You pouted at this, though without actually answering your original question, he slowly began to pull himself out of the bowl “Not like I have any reason to move this far in the Underground, since I usually stayed in the Ruins. But I can go from the Ruins to New Home in less than fifteen minutes… I’m only taking so long because of your sorry ass.”

“I appreciate it anyway.” You sighed, letting Flowey wrap his tiny roots and vines around your arm, sliding up and over your shoulder and body. He slid himself a bit into your shirt just so the two of you could share the collar of it, his head poked out with a push, his golden petals bounced. “I’m sure you do.” He replied lowly, though he quickly kissed your cheek and added, almost in a whisper “You smell absolutely disgusting and my OCD is triggering as we speak.”

You never took his nit-picky habits as anything close to obsessive-compulsivity. But even in Flowey’s relaxed state you could feel him constantly shifting to get comfortable, but then again wouldn’t anybody struggle to get comfortable if they had to share a sweaty shirt with someone? You wanted to ask more about this sudden reveal (or maybe you were thinking too deep about it, what if it was more Flowey humor?), but you found yourself pushing forward instead.

“What do you expect?” You decided that you wouldn’t carry the bowl of dirt with you, and not wanting to just let it sit there, tossed it off to the side… letting the dirt scatter before the bowl rolled off the path and into the pits below “Not like there’s a shower close by.”

Flowey clung to you loosely, tight enough to hold on but weak enough so you didn’t feel like he was constricting you. The two of you walked through a less humid Hotland level; not as bad as the previous layers, but still not any better when it came to heat. The humidity was still there, causing your clothing to remain stuck to your skin, but at least there wasn’t pure steam in your face, or pure fire…

You had to pass an abandoned table to get to the large cave of moving steam vents. You weren’t sure how much more steam you could take. Your mouth was so dry that you were actually considering licking your sweat. Flowey gave a tiny lesson about what was contained in sweat, and as gross as it sounded, sweat looked mighty refreshing right about now. You even pondered if Flowey could sweat, wondering what it would taste like. You were hoping that it tasted like honey before he interrupted your thoughts “If you keep going now we can get to the resort faster. Mettaton’s hotel should have water, and maybe food lying around.” He glanced your way “And since we got the backup power running, that might mean there’s working showers. Something you’re in dire need of obtaining.”

You rolled your eyes “How many times are you going to mock how I smell?”

“As long as I can until you smell less like a dead body.”

You wanted to question it, but you decided it was best not to. And without even thinking, you decided to push ahead.

Making sure to, this time, take giant jumps onto each ventilation shaft, you were shot across the deep chasms at a repetitive and spinning pace. You were actually starting to get dizzy; dizzy enough that Flowey sprouted his vines to guide your body on his own. Back in Snowdin, you probably would have never imagined allowing Flowey to take full control of your limbs-- but after all the two of you had been through it felt rather natural to do so. Better yet, it felt really good knowing you could trust him enough to give your whole body to him. He helped you do as you had been doing; jump onto the correct vent that would shoot you across. By the time you two actually made it to the other side, you fell to your knees and tried not to throw up.

“Euck...!”

You threw up.

“That’s...” Flowey decided he needed to comment, and you could feel his vines retracting from the rest of your sweaty form. As if your shoulder were the corner of the room, you felt him press himself against it as if trying to keep away from the vomit “That’s disgusting.”

“I’m sorry--” You lifted your arm to wipe your mouth as best as you can, your other cradled your stomach “All that spinning… I’m so dizzy and nauseous now…”

“I never realized you had such a weak stomach.” The flower pulled at your shoulder, implying for you to slowly stand to your feet. As you did so, you wobbled ahead carefully. Last thing you wanted was to dive into the lava below. He spoke more gently, his vines one again sliding themselves over your skin beneath your clothing(though you could feel his hesitation in doing so). As they wrapped around your legs, he began to walk for you “Take it easy and let me guide you, last thing I want is you blowing chunks all over me so-- just concentrate on not doing that.”

“Flowey, really.” You scoffed, though even you tried not to breathe on him; knowing fully well that your breath probably reeked now. You kept your words, and your breathing, to a minimum as he quietly guided you towards a surprisingly large set of doors. They were wide open, but they towered over the two of you in all their majestic glory. Long slabs of metal and machinery that glowed with neon-green patterns, patterns that faded on and off as if it were a living pulse. It was apparent the doors had been open for a long time, and stuck in their position… because as Flowey helped you walk between them you couldn’t help but notice the caked dust and soot around the edges that faced the Hotland behind you.

Not to mention, there were really thick spider webs along the ground.

You did your best not to think too much about anything, doing as Flowey had instructed… strictly thinking about NOT vomiting.

And almost in no time at all the air began to get cooler. It was rather soothing after having been in the steaming and uncomfortable heat for so long. You even let out a sigh of relief as you saw that, up ahead, there was a rather dimly lit building with a small open doorway for you to enter. Just imagining the shade and how it would possibly be even cooler inside made your senses tingle with glee. The wave of nausea and dizziness was over, you found yourself hurrying to reach the archway.

It was unlike the colors you were used to since around Hotland. You were so used to seeing warm colors of reds, oranges, and yellows... that when you reached the purple path that would lead you to the towering black and purple building, you were rather surprised at how much it stood out. It didn’t exactly fit in with the Hotland environment.

“How tacky.” Once again the two of you seemed to be in sync with your thoughts… however his translations of what you were often times thinking seemed more blunt, forward, and rather rude. Then again, it only would’ve been rude of people were here to witness the two of you interact “Why would she choose purple in a place like this? I always wanted to ask her but… not like I can anymore.”

You decided to stop in your tracks right before entering the doorway. You thought it was wide open and inviting as you had approached, but suddenly peeking through you could see just how dark it really was. You couldn’t make out a single thing inside of the royal purple building, and to top it all off, the flooring just inside the arch, and all along the outside walls, seemed to be adorned in spiderwebs. You stood your ground, and asked Flowey “Her who?”

Flowey sighed lazily “Muffet. This was her main bakesale place. Have you heard of her? She always boasted about becoming some famous baker on the surface.”

“Oh!” You smiled brightly, the memory of seeing her old bake sale flyers when you were back at the ruins seemed to flash in the back of your mind “Yeah I know her! Well, not know, but I go to her shop now and again. God, her pastries are amazing~ I’m honestly missing them right now--”

You cut off your sentence after feeling Flowey’s intense glare burning a hole in your face.

Looking over at him, his vines had all pulled away from the rest of your body, relaxing along your arm “Ah, so you like her shit, huh?”

“Flowey, it’s definitely not shit.” You snorted in disbelief, wrinkling your nose distastefully “Don’t get me wrong, you and her are definitely competing over my heart. It’s pretty much a tie between you both but I guess because I haven’t had her stuff in awhile it’s hard to pinpoint who's the best.”

“Ugh.” Flowey threw his head back as dramatically as he possibly could “Her shit’s nasty! But I guess I can’t say I’m surprised you like spiders.”

You casually looked away from him, returning your attention ahead and finally taking a step through the open doorway “They aren’t bad I guess? I’m not going to not buy her pastries just because she’s a spider, that’s a little messed up, Flowey--”

“What? I’m not talking about that, dumbass.” Flowey’s image grew darker as you walked further in, the whole building shrouded in a pitch black. The floors were fairly sticky under your boots, and you found yourself swatting and brushing a prickly feeling off your arms and face as he continued “I said you liking to eat spiders isn’t at all surprising-- I mean, considering you fuck flowers-- what else wouldn’t you do--”

You stopped in your tracks and practically jolted “What?”

Flowey let out a surprised noise from your sudden halt and yell “What?! I’m telling it like it is! You’re just a real kinky shit I guess so it all makes sense you add spiders to your diet but, I sure as hell won’t be eating that for as long as I live--” He then paused, and you could almost hear him sneering “Oh… that’s rich… you didn’t know she used spiders in her cooking.”

“You’re just--” You wanted to say he was lying, it didn’t make sense! Her bakery was full of spiders that helped her with everything she did! She would even snap at you if you were a newcomer who tried to swat at any of them! Why the hell would she put them into her food?! “Flowey you--”

“I guess that’s a little fucked up.” Flowey snorted “You didn’t know this whole time that you’ve been eating tiny little spider legs-- I mean, how else would you think she gets her cookies so crunchy~”

“Please stop.” You could feel your body start to gag.

But he carried on “Must be pretty awkward. I hope you don’t plan on throwing up again.”

There was a faint hissing noise not too far off, however you easily assumed it was Flowey “Flowey really! You can’t be serious! I’ve been eating her pastries since--”

“I’m more surprised Frisk never told you, since the two of you are so buddy buddy.”

You really wanted to scrub your tongue off with your fingers, but you kept feeling something prickly and sticky along them, so you just tried to wipe your hands on your makeshift shorts. Of course, somewhere along the way to the center(or what you thought was the center) of the large room you had passed through perhaps a few spider webs. Your whole attire was suddenly covered in that same prickly feeling you kept coming across on your careful walk through the dark. You were totally grossed out-- not only that you had been eating the corpses of Ms. Muffet’s co-workers, but apparently Frisk had been letting you all this time. Not to mention, it all sounded pretty delicious until a few seconds ago when Flowey dropped the bomb.

You walked on in silence now, but Flowey was all too pleased with himself. He chattered away, and even bragged about his own food “I bet there’s no more competition between me and Muffet anymore, now is there?”

“Unless you’re also using dead bodies or some sort of gross combination of spices, I think you win.” Your stomach was back to feeling queasy, you held it as you walked. But as you walked onward, the soles of your boots were getting more and more sticky, and it was harder to keep going. The thoughts of eating spiders were already enough, you were even more concerned now that you were feeling spiderwebs all over your body, and not to mention on your shoes.

“Ugh.” You whined, stopping and trying to march in place to pull your boots from the sticky floors. You were able to pull them a bit, however suddenly you weren’t able to move them at all. It only took a few stomps for your shoes to be completely stuck against the floor of the building. But connecting the unfortunate dots, Flowey did remind you this place had once been Ms. Muffet’s… so if the floor were covered in anything sticky, it’d probably be spiderwebs. You shuddered “What the hell… the floors are so sticky, and I’m covered in it.”

“You and me both.” Flowey made a flicking noise with a vine of his, though the vine slowly proceeded to brush all over you as if he were attempting to clean you off “This place is too dark, I can’t see shit.”

“If I’m stuck…” You started, realization waving over you “What are we gonna do?”

“You’re not stuck.” Flowey insisted, even though you once again tried to budge your boots, to no avail of course. He persisted as he wiped you down, the stickiness thankfully clearing away “I’ll get down there and see what I can do.”

“Hurry up.” You suddenly demanded.

He snickered “Excuse yourself.”

“Hurry up, please?”

Flowey clicked his tongue as you felt him crawl down your clothing, and over your legs. As he did this, not to mention took his sweet time to perform this, you felt some sort of presence enter the room with you.

Perhaps they hadn’t even just entered, it almost felt as if they had been around for awhile-- watching.

You shuddered “Hurry.”

“I’m working on it.” Flowey muttered, though you could hear the annoyed tone in his voice. To top it off, he was being careful, as if trying not to hurt you, or maybe trying not to get stuck himself. The feeling of being watched soon enough became apparent, as almost hundreds or even thousands of tiny, beady, white eyes glowed in the dark.

There was a pulsing light that emanated from within you. Deep underneath your skeleton, muscles and veins, the bright white light seemed to escape from your skin to radiate a glow equivalent to a flashlight. It slowly brightened, revealing the dark room surrounding the both of you. But just as quick as it had shone, the light then proceeded to fade. You were so mesmerized by the light that you didn’t seem to notice the creatures slowly creeping themselves closer to you.

“What the hell is that?” Flowey demanded, he whispered in shock and even stopped his work on releasing you just to climb up your body and stare at your chest. The light once again returned, radiating out in it’s LED glory a bright white glow, before slowly fading and returning the area to black.

“I-I…” You wanted to answer, but the light blinded you again, only this time it glowed a bright blue-- and just in time for you to remind yourself of your surroundings. You didn’t know what was going on, but the glow felt all too familiar… a warm and inviting light that reminded you of the moments you had with yourself when you had died. Or at least, when you had thought you did. Watching a SOUL close to giving up, but then watching it mend itself to keep going… you wondered if it was, once again, someone wanting to help you live? Perhaps within the darkness of this place, the same person who gave you a second chance was also making sure you survived the onslaught of, what now looked like, tiny little shadows within the dark.

As you lifted your head and looked around, the blue light faded right as you heard the hisses erupt again. Flowey clung to your shirt, his vines made their way around you, constricting like a snake.

“What’s happening…!?” You asked as Flowey squeezed, and you let out a weak breath as the beady eyes continued staring at you in the dark. When your chest-light blinked back on, it glowed a brilliant purple, and it became apparent what was happening.

This was, after all, where Ms. Muffet used to live. The glowing hungry eyes surrounding you were the tiny spider’s that she had, apparently, left behind. And every single one of them began to crawl closer, hissing and letting out low clicking noises as if they were machines. It wasn’t like you were afraid of spiders, you weren’t the type to scream if you caught one in your apartment on the surface. You were the type to kindly escort it out of the building and continue about your day.

However seeing yourself surrounded, and the light of your soul fading in and out at inconvenient times, and random colors, made your body go numb.

Either that, or Flowey’s hug of death was making you numb.

Either way, you found yourself suppressing a sudden urge to yell in total fear. But just as your soul glowed red, suddenly the swarm of spiders began to climb over you. Without Flowey’s help, your boots were still stuck to the webbed floor, leaving you completely helpless as you shimmied and waved to try and fling them off of you. You could feel their tiny fangs nipping and biting any part of exposed skin, and if they weren’t doing that, some were wrapping you up in more web as a means of cocooning you.

The last thing you wanted was to be a snack saved for later.

“Fuck off!” Flowey was having a hissing contest with them, his own vines that had securely wrapped around you were waving and flailing to smack them off in waves. The spiders would yelp from being hit, and watching them fly in such dramatic lighting felt almost unreal. But being distracted by not only their web, but being bitten, and even watching them fly about from Flowey’s attacks, almost caused you to miss the weight lifting off your back.

They were taking your backpack.

“Hey!” You yelled, now you thrashed even more than before. This caused Flowey’s grip to loosen, and as the spiders swarmed and pulled themselves away, you could see in the green light as a large group carried your bag away from you. That thing had your journal! It was something you needed, or else everything that had happened since coming down here would all be for--

The light of your soul glowed yellow then. You batted your eyes and watched as Flowey swiped and smacked at the spiders. He did his best to protect you.

Why were they biting you? Were they really that hungry?

“Wait! Listen!” You yelled out, just in time for Flowey to have picked his last straw. He snapped, the vines that held onto you had all retracted, just to turn into thorn covered swords as he leaped off of you and prepared to dive into the swarm, screaming bloody murder “I’LL RIP OF YOUR LEGS AND SHOVE THEM DOWN YOUR--”

“Flowey wait!” You lifted your arms, snapping them free from the spider silk that tried to constrict you, and you snatched for Flowey mid-air. Yanking him back, from the sudden motion his vines had shifted back into limp tendrils as you held onto him. The spiders continued to sway and swarm in large groups all along the floor, still fairly close to you, however they thankfully climbed off your body at your yell, their hissings and gnawings calmed down even as their bodies wriggled around. You breathed out tiredly “Just wait, Flowey… please.”

He gave you a look of disapproval, but simply returned his glare to the spiders silently. That was it, he obeyed surprisingly easily.

“If you guys are hungry, I have… food in my bag.” You stammered nervously, nudging your head in the direction of the backpack that the spiders were already digging through. Opened up, your notebook and belongings, including all the food that Flowey had made and stashed in your bag for you, was presented. In a single file line, all the spiders started to break away at the edibles and pretty much distribute it evenly. Thinking about it, it all made sense-- in a weird sort of way. You have yet to meet a spider that would spot a human and quickly try to bite at them. There had to be a reason behind everything, right?

“What the hell?!” Flowey growled “You guys were just starving?! You were gonna eat us ‘cause you’re fucking starving?!”

“It’s not like they have anywhere to go down here that will provide food.” You tried to defend them, and he once again glared at you before looking to the spiders silently. You watched as they all quietly chewed and ate their tiny morsels. Even though the portions were small, they were apparently satisfied enough finish their meals more calmly, and in silence. There was nothing but the sounds of tiny nibbles and chewing, and soon enough that was the end of your food stash. And to be honest, while you had been watching them, your stomach had been grumbling in jealousy.

The spiders made the same clicking noises as they had done earlier, though these sounds were soft and light, as of amongst themselves. Some form of communication between them that, perhaps if you knew something about morse-code you’d be able to understand what they were saying. You were mostly taking the time to catch your breath as well, after everything that had happened, and their hungry bites leaving numb marks all over your already sore skin, you felt totally drained. Even though you tried to have Flowey let his guard down, he squinted at them as if they were now the prey, and he had one vine up and ready… daring them to strike.

The spiders, soon enough, came to some sort of agreement you presumed. A few of them began to carefully approach again, before unwinding the webbing around your boots and legs, helping to release you.

With a relieved sigh, you wiggled your boots to freedom. Careful not to stomp on any of the spiders, you hesitated to do anything else for a moment. However, when they didn’t exactly lunge for you again, made your way to your open backpack. Of course, you only had the light of your soul to guide you, and with its constant fading in and out, as well as changing color, it didn’t help much with aiding your sight. But soon enough, you got to your pack and knelt down, shoving your journal into the bag. Your bag, other than your books and journal, was now empty of food. Flowey noted this and sighed “This is the thanks I get, giving you food for yourself and you share it with spiders, of all things.”

“They were hungry, and would’ve eaten us instead if it wasn’t for your stuff.” You smiled, and as you stood back up to your feet and placed your backpack over your shoulders, the spiders crawled back towards you, surrounding you in a circle of crowded and beady eyes. Wriggling again as if excited, they looked a lot less menacing now… and surprisingly, more cute and innocent.

“What are we going to do…” You gave a sorrowful smile down at them, knowing fully well you couldn’t just carry them all with you. Noting their curious gaze, it was easily understood that, after having fed them, they sought for much more help than hunger now.

You wondered why they were still here, and why Ms. Muffet had abandoned them.

“We’re supposed to be getting you out of here, not them.” Flowey answered, his hold on you loosened as he returned to resting against your shoulder “What do you think we can do?”

You thought it over, knowing that their eyes that looked up to you were hoping for some way out. In a sense, they looked to you for guidance, as if you were a leader now. You could only imagine that they had no one but Muffet while everyone was Underground, and with her being gone, and Flowey only hiding in the Ruins, they hadn’t seen anyone else but each other for a long time.

In the white light that emanated from your chest, you watched one spider in particular carefully carry a folded napkin towards you. It approached your boots, looking over them for a moment, before looking back up towards you and bouncing to try and reach. You snorted at the rather cute act, and you bowed down to take the napkin. Opening it up, your eyes widened at the reminder.

You had forgotten you were carrying the amalgamates ashes.

“Oh.” You gave a hurtful smile “Thank you.”

You could tell Flowey wasn’t exactly sure what to say in the moment either, the two of you simply looked over the napkin as you folded it back up and carefully returned it to your bag. The reminder hurt your heart, and coincidentally, even your soul glowed blue and illuminated the room in mourning. But the reminder also gave you an idea. That, even though you couldn’t help them out, you knew what had to be done.

“Listen to me.” You started, looking to Flowey who returned the gaze, except his was mostly in confusion. With a small nod you started off “Flowey can cook, he’s an amazing chef. He can make food for you from now on--”

“What?!” The golden flower practically screamed, but it apparently was enough of a promise for the spiders to all sway and dance happily. They ignored Flowey’s annoyed protests, and they emitted clicking noises. The clicking noises sounded, which you finally figured out was their attempt at clapping and applauding. With a new smile of confidence, not to mention knowing that they actually understood you, you nodded again “Since you all are Underground together, I’m sure he’d be more than happy to help! But also…”

You looked away, just in time for Flowey to mutter “I’m not cooking for these asses.”

“That’s only if we can’ t help you guys out of here.”

Flowey paused, and the spiders all froze the same. Everyone’s eyes laid on you, whether it were from wonder or from shock you had no idea. You cleared your throat, as nervous as you were feeling with the attention you were receiving, you also felt so much passion, you couldn’t help yourself. “Ms. Muffet didn’t abandon you, I don’t think she’s the type to do something like that. I don’t know her well, but she treats all her spider workers with dignity and humility.”

“She uses them for her cupcakes.” Flowey tried to remind you in a mumble, and you waved him off with your hand as you kept onward, the room glowing purple “She might not even know that all this time you were down here struggling to survive! And if you guys are really hungry and trying to live day to day, year to year… it’s time to get out of here, right?” The spiders had all started to look at one another, as if you were losing them, but you tried further “The barrier was lifted! Years ago! You remember, right? Muffet must have came in announcing it as everyone was gathering their things! There’s nothing holding you guys back! We’re on our way to where the barrier was once held-- to the castle!”

“New Home.” Flowey said gently. You wondered if he was correcting you, however his almost distant eyes told you otherwise. You sighed contently “New Home…” before looking back to them all “I can’t carry you all, there’s only so much I can do but… but when I get out of here, I’ll make sure you guys get help! I promise!”

The spiders were all quiet, shifting and moving about as if communicating in some sort of dance together. No clicks, not even the glows of their eyes could be seen as they scattered about. But suddenly you realized what they were doing. Using their own tiny bodies, they started to form a shape together... A shape of words.

On the floor, as the light of your soul faded back on, was the question:

PROMISE?

Ugh, so much cute and terror bunched into what felt like hours. You weren’t sure you could take much more of this. “I promise!” You repeated and smiled, more proudly than before “We’re all gonna be saved! I promise!”

The crowds of spiders all started to cheer. Their clicks and tiny applauds came out. You couldn’t help but try and clap with them, however Flowey was left silent on your shoulder. You knew he would chew your ear off later considering the choices. Either they would all be free from the underground, or Flowey was a permanent chef for them from now on. For the spiders it was a win/win situation, but for Flowey it was lose/lose.

He didn’t get to leave with them, and even if they stayed, he’d have to cook for them forever.

But he finally voiced his opinion gently, as you finally started to walk towards the exit “I mean… if it’ll keep them from trying to eat or kill me, then sure I will…” He glanced to you “Cook for them, I mean. Obviously if they get to leave then… I won’t have to.” Flowey huffed under his breath, trying his best to sound more annoyed than hurt “In that case, I sure as hell hope they get out of here.”

Another ‘heat of the moment’ speech, where you didn’t exactly choose your words carefully. You had promised them either a free meal with Flowey, or complete freedom when you reached the barrier wall. Of course, you had said this without realizing it, having neglected Frisk’s words of not allowing Flowey on the surface.

Whether the spiders would leave or not, Flowey would still have to stay.

Your heart ached for him, it really did. You wondered if he really was ready to live on the surface with you. There was nothing that you could do when it came to living down here, your whole life was up above, and the Underground was all Flowey had ever known. Other than the few forgotten memories of Asriel’s past that Flowey probably thought about now and again, what other memories did he have? Flowey himself never came above ground. And the worst thing is, even when you left, he still wouldn’t get to because of a promise Frisk made to Asriel to not let Flowey go.

You knew, as strict as Frisk was being, it hurt them just as much. You wondered how badly it hurt Frisk when they left the underground. How badly it must have hurt knowing they saved everyone's life but Flowey’s. Knowing they couldn’t bring Asriel back, and even his essence was forced to live in solitude for the rest of his life.

You didn’t realize that all these thoughts were making your eyes water. You had a frown stuck on your face, and without realizing it you and Flowey were already on the other side of the building. Back on solid (and not so sticky) concrete, there was a purple brick wall that continued on towards, what looked to be, a stage. And against the purple wall you found an abandoned Mettaton poster.

You felt somewhat amazed at this, having forgotten that such a celebrity had started off Underground. Whenever you talked with Alphys or Papyrus, they were the ones who seemed quite fond of the famous actor. He was a ‘jack-of-all-trades’ type of celebrity after all, he had the uncanny ability of pleasing all forms of the entertainment industry; not only did he have a cooking show, but he was an actor and a model all rolled into one. You saw him on TV now and again, and while you were a fan of his, you weren’t a big enough supporter to collect much merchandise like Papyrus seemed to do.

The more you thought about them, and how little you knew about most of the monsters who bothered to be in your life, the more sad you became. The Underground experience you’ve been through had taught you that, hopefully, there were people willing to be your friend if only you would let them. The fear of them vanishing from your life, like your best friend had, melted away at the sheer thought of going out with them all. For once, you would try and befriend everyone.

“You’ve been staring at that poster for awhile.” Flowey spoke rather gently, breaking you away from your thoughts as you looked to him. Blinking back your tears, you did your best to hide them and turn your head away again “Sorry, I guess I just got lost in… I was thinking that… about what I--”

Flowey let a vine carefully wrap around your head, making you turn back to look at him. You obeyed, bowing your head almost submissively as he used his leaf to brush over your cheek, catching a tear before it fell down your face “What’re ya crying for? Stop that.”

“I’m sorry… I just…” His words only made it hurt more. At the end of the road, everything that happened between the two of you wouldn’t matter. “I just don’t… I don’t know why I said that back there--”

“Look,” He breathed out, flicking his leaf away before returning it to press against your cheek. Both his leaves cradled your face in a cupping motion then, keeping you looking towards him so you couldn’t look away “Don’t cry, sweetheart. Alright? You and I both know you’re an ugly crier.”

You snorted, lifting your hands to try and wipe at your eyes. A mixture of embarrassment but relief that he broke the emotional aura with a bit of comedy… if he were joking, at least. You gave a tiny nod, and he continued to hold your face gently “You don’t have any good reason to cry--”

But you do.

“--and I’m not the best person to console someone…” He tilted his head to the side, his eyes narrowed “We’re almost at the hotel, it’s not that far now. We can rest soon.”

As he pulled his leaves away, you leaned forward and placed a kiss on his lips.

It was so sudden, it came as no surprise that Flowey had jumped a bit in reaction. But he didn’t pull away, and you could feel his form soften against you. His tendrils shuddered along your shoulder, gently stretching to spread across your frame, all the while you pushed forward to try and deepen the kiss you gave. You wondered why the saddened mood had brought this out of you… maybe the thought of never getting to be with Flowey when you left? Maybe for clarification that everything happening was real?

Maybe you wanted to drown away the pain and replace it with pleasure and bliss…

Flowey pulled himself back a bit then, his face flushed as he released breathless gasps. Using his leaves to cover his mouth, he looked away from you and mumbled “You still taste like vomit.”

Notes:

> Flowey is a mood killer--> Flowey: "The real mood killer is vomit. Please refrain from throwing up and proceeding to kiss your significant other before rinsing out your mouth--"> Gaspe, you said significant other

Summary:

“Self-aware meaning… well, I know what we are and everything we are. Without sounding full of it, I know everything. Being self-aware is… not something a lot of people are.”

Notes:

>This is somewhat of a short chapter. I had this ready as a 'recap' like chapter, not just for readers but for myself.>(Reminder that I wrote out an outline for each chapter long before actually writing it so bear with me.)

Chapter Text

Chapter Twenty-One: Almost Lost It All

“Because you define you, no one else does. No one, or thing… just you.”

Flowey had said this in a surprisingly calm manner. After you had cried your eyes out in front of him for promising the spiders freedom but not Flowey, and even after the strange ordeal with your SOUL, he was calm. Simply, and unconditionally, relaxed to a point of you even questioning if he were high or not.

“That doesn’t explain anything.” You replied, still a little worked up from the events that had unfolded. Your eyes were irritated and a bit puffy from your cry earlier, your body sore and aching from the spider bites, and Flowey’s comment about the kiss you two shared still tasting like vomit made you also concerned about your breath. It was as if everything had been pushed back to square one; back when you had first started developing feelings for him. But once again you had to ask yourself if it was really worth it or not. Was it worth it to like him as any more than just a friend? Was it worth it to risk being killed by him again? Was it truly worth it all? “That doesn’t explain why my soul was glowing like a weird beacon at Muffet’s place.”

“It explains as much as you let it, dumbo.” Flowey retorted. Now the insults were coming back, his calm demeanor remained but at least he was slowly turning back to normal “If you overthink it, it just gets complicated. You’ll melt your brain.”

“I just want a simple answer.” You sighed, really hoping that he would actually give it to you “Something simple that I can wrap my head around, something that makes sense. Is that too hard to ask?”

“Maybe.” The golden flower snorted “Try to think of it this way; you’re a videogame character—or storybook character—and you, being the main one, have special powers or abilities or whatever that no one else has. Think of it as the typical ‘main character trope’.”

“Ugh.” You were getting tired, and sick again “Again with the whole main character thing?”

“Things are happening to you that even I can’t understand, so what other explanation is there?” Flowey tried once more “There’s someone who wants you alive, and not just that, someone who wanted you to know your soul is… what… a multi-soul of sorts. Someone or thing is trying to get you to understand who you are. And while I’ve never seen or met anyone with a soul like yours, I know it must mean something if your soul is filled with all these different things…”

Suddenly you had stopped in your tracks, trying to figure out what these things meant. This was something that, you realized, happened quite often ever since you wound up trapped underground. Having to think about your survival skills, having to think about the dreams that started when you first began your journey… thinking about Flowey as a companion… so many things had happened to you during your journey that left you standing in place no matter how far you walked or ran.

And it all started the moment you asked Frisk about going Underground.

It was the same day you felt, strange enough, as if you were being watched.

“Souls linger after death.” You commented, almost dumbly as Flowey looked up at you. The two of you were now simply standing right before, what you presumed to be, the Mettaton Hotel that Flowey had been talking about. Thanks to the backup power being started, you could lay witness to all the flashing lights and neon signs that were displayed all across the building. It definitely felt Mettaton themed, especially since the celebrity was very much a flashy character on the surface. It was somewhat refreshing knowing he hadn’t changed since leaving the Underground. His popularity had simply grown.

“Human souls, yes.” Flowey replied, just as quietly as you had commented.

Was there any more that needed to be said?

Your thoughts were racing, trying to find an answer that connected everything together. Souls lingered after death, at least, the human soul did. All the souls that were down here before… all the humans that died trying to find a way out… including your best friend.

Souls linger after death.

Did you get it, though? No.

“My head hurts.” You sighed, now dragging yourself towards a bench that sat right outside of the hotel. The coolness that pushed towards you and Flowey through the hotel doors was a sure sign that there was air-conditioning, and that was enough for you at the moment. You collapsed onto the bench that off to the side by the front doors of the building. It was worn, but enough to support your body weight. Flowey was in your hands at this point, not wanting to keep himself stuck to your body after the spider encounter, however he crawled and uncoiled himself from you so that he could make it to sit on the bench as well. He was overdue for a new flower pot anyway, there was a good chance at finding him something new inside the hotel.

“It’s a lot to think about.” Flowey smiled “Don’t hurt your pretty little head.” And with that, he even stretched out one of his roots to pat your hair. You didn’t even try to fight or argue.

When you had decided to become a historian—well, when you decided to claim yourself as an ARCHAEOLOGIST that studied Monsters… for some reason you failed to realize that magic would be involved. And now you were involved in a whole new world of powers beyond your own comprehension. A soul that Flowey had called ‘multi’ resided within you, strong enough to shine in the dark, and strong enough to keep you from death.

Your brain hurt.

“My brain hurts.” You said your thoughts aloud.

“We can rest inside whenever you’re done questioning your life’s worth.” Flowey snickered, though he himself was slowly loosening up as he sat there on the bench beside you. He looked tense at first, perhaps it was because he had mostly been in ground when he wasn’t in a pot, vase, or bowl… but it was strange looking at him uprooted and sitting on a bench like a normal person. Flowey looked somewhat awkward trying to position his many roots and tendrils that coiled and moved with his base, but soon enough they all had unfurled as he relaxed, and so did you. You felt a lot better sitting close to air-conditioning, breathing fresh air was soothing. And letting your body rest, even for a moment, was nice. Pushing aside the millions of thoughts you still tried to figure out about yourself and… well, the powers of the Underground… your mind wandered to another place.

Your mind wandered to Frisk, and how pissed off they had been at you. Pissed and worried, and of course as assertive as ever. They sounded annoyed, but at the same time they wanted to make sure you would make it okay.

And yet, you were starting to have doubts.

Doubts that Frisk would even bother with you after everything you had done. Doubts that they would wait for you, let alone destroy a whole wall just to help you get out. You even figured they probably had given up by now, not having given you a second thought after the phone call had ended. Perhaps enjoying their solitude without you, with their many friends and family, the loved ones they had.

After all, you were a nobody… what reason would Frisk have to help you? You were a colleague, a co-worker who often got on their nerves than anything else. You two shared plenty of positive moments of course, but the negative, such as the one you were in now, felt heavier.

They probably hated you, at this point.

“Are you alright?” Flowey’s gentle voice had snapped you out of your void. Almost as if you were truly in the dark, the light of the hotel behind you glimmered brightly, like a beacon calling you back to reality. The air-conditioned breeze also gave you a chilled reminder of where you remained.

“Yeah, I think so…” You said, more nervous than certain. Frisk didn’t seem like the type to actually hate anyone. They either liked someone or they were indifferent to them. But a part of you considered yourself an exception.

“So, you don’t know if you’re alright or not.” Flowey questioned you yet again, and you sighed “Flowey, really. I just have a lot on my mind.”

“Like what?” He dared.

“A lot.” You forced.

Flowey had turned his head to you, looking up at you with squinted beady eyes. You knew fully well he was trying to get something out of you, but suddenly you found yourself in no mood to talk. Even after he had comforted you before and told you everything would be okay… now you just weren’t sure. Would everything really be okay?

And suddenly time seemed to pass rather quickly, and the silence was deafening.

“Do you think they hate me, Flowey?” You finally asked. It wasn’t an immediate question, by the time you figured you’d answer Flowey it had been a few minutes of silence and him simply staring at you in hopes of something happening.

Of course he then asked “They who?” with which you replied, letting out a heavy sigh “Frisk, who else.”

“Why the hell would they hate you?” The flower gave you a puzzled look, arching a nonexistent brow as you leaned back against the seat. You felt relaxed, your mind was less confused, and yet now the hurt seemed to return again. The thoughts of Frisk being so pissed off at you that they would be willing to ditch you made you terribly upset. You could still remember the phone conversation, clear as day, that Frisk almost did. You remember Frisk giving you a firm confirmation on your mistakes, before claiming you were trapped and they couldn’t get you out. “After all that I did against their wishes, I think it would make sense if they did… I deserve it.”

“You’re only human.” Flowey clicked his tongue, though he backtracked “I mean, anything living is bound to make mistakes… monsters, humans, well… me.” He turned his head away quickly, his petals following with a sway “I don’t make mistakes often I guess but I know what it’s like to think ‘Wow, someone really fucking hates me now!’.”

Suddenly though, Flowey had lowered, shaking his head gently and letting out a low chuckle “Not Frisk, though.”

A part of you felt as if you had been through this before, as Flowey mentioned “I stole all the souls of the Underground, thus killing all of their friends in an instant… all these innocent people, even when I made up for it to break the barrier, I kept asking myself… ‘Does Frisk hate me?’ And you would think… probably. Who wouldn’t hate someone who… hurt them.” A bit of his head had tilted then, in your direction. Knowing fully well it was him also mentioning what he had done to you, you lifted a hand and delicately caressed his petal. It was light, it was quick, and soon enough his head had recovered and he pulled away “Twice I tried to destroy everything. Twice I took the lives these monsters. And yet both times… each time… they forgave me. And even now… I know I’m not down here because they hate me. No, I don’t think Frisk even knows hate to be honest… I’m down here because they made a promise, they were worried, concerned… I know that…”

Suddenly, a tendril reached up, almost trying to curl around his neck, as if trying to grab for something. Maybe he was imagining a necklace or choker, and in the end it was confirmed once he added “I left my pendant back at the house… but I used to wear it, thinking it meant something to me. It meant a lot to Asriel, but to me it was nothing… just jewelry.” He expressed a soft smile, sighing out lightly “But I know it meant something to Frisk because they wore it even when they could have left it behind… they walked right out of here, with everyone after them, wearing it around their neck. And I would ask myself why? After everything I had done… everything I failed to do… why would Frisk wear something that meant so much to Asriel but nothing to them? They had met Asriel once, just once… and yet suddenly they were so close that Frisk cried. Frisk was… really upset. I wouldn’t know how many times they had restarted, over and over, just to try and save Asriel… I wouldn’t know… and I wouldn’t understand.”

Flowey’s tendril continued to curl and unfold, still reaching and trying to grasp it. “It always feels surreal, remembering things that aren’t your own memories. Feeling like a clone. A clone who is supposed to be exactly like someone but… isn’t.” And slowly his root had gently landed back down on the bench “Frisk can’t hate you, and even if they wanted to, they probably won’t. So don’t over think so much.” He scoffed “I know you usually do, but you need to stop that.”

“Hey, you do the same thing.” You returned with a huff, causing him to laugh. It wasn’t even forced, it was a light-hearted and almost ‘fluffy’ laugh. Surprisingly cute for a flower who cussed like a sailor. The flower hummed “I guess overthinking can’t be helped but… if you can help it, it’s recommended to try and… not.”

You rubbed your arm a bit, feeling somewhat embarrassed for thinking such silly thoughts now after hearing Flowey’s little tale. He had been through so much compared to you. You both may have had similarities in certain situations, but your story wasn’t as close to astounding. Not to mention, you weren’t soulless and struggling with feelings like he was.

Well, to an extent.

“I told Frisk that we’re friends.” You finally admitted another thought that was bothering you. The fact that you labelled no one as your friend, in the back of your mind you figured you had no friends. You decided the moment you would return home, you would definitely learn to make friends and let more people into your life… at least you would try to. And yet…

“Isn’t that a good thing?” Flowey looked confused “Of course you and Frisk are friends, what’s so bad about that? Are you really that—“

“No, I mean…” You breathed out “Over the phone when me and Frisk were talking, I told them that me and you were friends.” You started to chew on your bottom lip, watching as Flowey’s face had gone from confused to stern, and then dropping from stern to nonchalant. He didn’t seem to care much about the comment, but to you it felt terrible “I never called Frisk my friend for all the years I’ve been around them. We practically grew up together the moment they emerged from the Underground. We went to school together, we went to college together, we work together but… everyone I’ve ever talked to was just an acquaintance or co-worker… no one was my friend, I had no friends and suddenly I get to hear Frisk talk about how worried they were over me and making sure I was safe but… I still remember telling frisk so casually “Flowey’s a friend of mine, actually.” And yet… yet I never considered them my friend until now. I’m just starting to think that… I really hope I didn’t hurt Frisk’s feelings. It’s why I wondered if, after all this… it would make sense if they hated me.”

“Whatever Frisk thinks doesn’t matter.” Flowey suddenly groaned out, as if completely done with you running in circles over the subject. You couldn’t blame him either for getting annoyed. He rolled his eyes “It’s out of Frisk’s control, they aren’t the main character and they feel powerless so now they’re just trying to figure things out… I highly doubt they even care that you had said it.”

There it was again, the Main Character role.

It was something that had been said since the very beginning, and it had carried along all this time, and once again your mind reeled at the thought. Flowey bringing it up again as an excuse towards ‘that’s just how things are’ made you upset, confused, and just a little bit pissed.

“What does that really mean?” You demanded “I told you I just don’t understand that, it makes no sense to me and you keep using that as if it’s an easy answer to brush off why things are the way they are. That’s just as dumb as when a parent tells you to do something, you ask why, and they say “Because I’m Mom!”

Flowey was taken aback by your sudden outburst, though you didn’t apologize either. He opened his mouth, but you cut him off “And if you just brush me off again, telling me to ‘not worry my pretty little head about it’, I will eat you.”

Flowey definitely closed his mouth then. Though the both of you simply stared at each other for a while, before he mumbled “Eat me?”

You sighed loudly “I’m not great with comebacks and I’m just getting frustrated! You know what I meant!”

The flower glanced around a bit, as if worried the two of you were being watched. As much as you liked to believe you both were alone underground… after having met the Amalgamate, and then the spiders, you had your doubts as well. You wound up joining him in glancing around, though it became apparent he was doing it all for show.

“I’m self-aware.” He commented, rather cockily as if it were an achievement. You weren’t exactly sure what to make of that, but then you understood what he meant “Oh, like a living plant. Well, yeah I know that already—“

“Not that, you idiot.” Flowey hissed, lifting his leaf to cover his face. You furrowed your brows as he tried again “Self-aware meaning… well, I know what we are and everything we are. Without sounding full of it, I know everything. Being self-aware is… not something a lot of people are.”

“What does it mean to be ‘self-aware’?” You dared to ask, still not believing much of what he was trying to say. The idea of knowing everything seemed too broad to be true. If he did know everything, a lot of things that had happened during your journey could have been avoided. But he persisted “Why do I keep calling you the main character? Why do I keep considering this whole ordeal to be some sort of story? Because I know it. When you reach a higher state of being, of mind, you learn and know and understand and… suddenly life is mediocre because there isn’t much there in your control.” He cackled a little bit at his own words, before adding “In fact, I can even tell you that honestly, your narrator is a total shit. But you’ll probably never see what I see, or what I feel… it’s something Frisk had to deal with for a while, something I had to… and now you.”

Thank God you have no idea what the hell he’s talking about, but Flowey continued to try his best to explain what he meant exactly “Determination. Everything, and everyone, revolves around determination. It’s the main thing that makes humans and monsters different. Humans are naturally born with it, no matter what soul they may have, it’s considered a natural gift and… somehow, with this determination, each and every human that has fallen down here has had the power to control the very existence of everything. To pause time, to rewind it. To become ‘self-aware’. And when you obtain that power, no matter how long you’ve had it, even if it’s stripped away you still know. You can still feel it. Every single being with determination has harnessed this power, but not at the same time… the world would be in total chaos if that were the case.”

Flowey was mesmerized by his own words, his eyes looked distant and distracted, as if he were in his own little world of knowledge. “Your determination has to be greater than the others. You have to have the most. And for a long time, it was me. I can’t tell you the others because I wasn’t around then… but I am alive because of pure determination. There is nothing else within me other than that essence of human existence. But Frisk… when Frisk fell my power was lost, I still knew, I could still understand everything. And when you know everything, it’s hard to appreciate anything.”

And with that, his trance was lost. His deep brown eyes seemed to shine again, and he was looking at you once more. His words sounded pure, they sounded genuine and true, you didn’t think he was lying and yet… it was very difficult to understand.

Which would mean if his words were true, you surely didn’t have it.

“It’s not as simple as time travel, more-so as it is the control of it. To harness that much power… and to lose it… you would grow… hungry…”

Out of fear of losing Flowey in a trance again, let alone a trance of obsession and hunger for power, you lightly reached out and brushed his petal, as you had done before. The gentle touch startled him enough to jerk back and almost hiss at you, however the realization that it was you made him relax. He was back on track again as he asked gently “What would you do? It’s obvious you don’t have it… but… if you did have that power, the power to pause, rewind, SAVE files as if the world were a videogame, restart…what would you do?”

The question wasn’t surprising, he was aware you didn’t have that power, and he was talking from the perspective of someone who has. Flowey had harnessed it, and so did Frisk… and apparently every other human who had ever fallen underground. The wonder of whether your childhood friend had the power or not made you question what she would have done in that situation. What did she do?

…

“I would want everyone to be happy.” You managed. It was a quick thought, it was the first thing that came to mind. The idea of having any sort of magical powers whatsoever made you think of wanting to save people. You would want to be a hero, but without the popularity junk that came with it. To you, being popular and having tons of friends meant nothing… but to truly save someone, it meant the world. And maybe these thoughts came to mind because you did sort of wonder what could happen? You wondered what it would be like to go back in time to save your best friend from her death. To save her from climbing Mt. Ebott and falling down. To rescue her from her fate. Maybe to even rescue everyone form their fate. You just wanted everyone to have a happy ending, one that everyone deserved. “I would want everyone to be happy, and I would keep trying… again and again… until everyone was happy. All I could ask for is… everyone to achieve a happy ending. One that I could never get.”

But what if it wasn’t too late for you?

Would that be the happy ending you wanted? To save your friend?

As if Flowey knew you were still questioning your answer, you shook your head again. It was to assure him, and yourself, that you meant what you said. “I wouldn’t be who I am without everything I had been through. All that I’ve become is because of what happened in my past…” You gave a small smile towards Flowey, gesturing to him with your hand lightly “Who would you be if Chara was alive…? Would you still be upset over everything they had tried to do? If your-- if Asriel still lived… what do you think would happen? You wouldn’t even be here and…” Your words trailed off, realizing that the subject had gotten touchy.

“Go back in time to save all the children from falling down… to keep Frisk from falling… they would have never freed everyone. So many things would have never happened if I changed anything in the past.”

Your heart ached.

The hand you had gestured to Flowey suddenly lowered, though a small root began to wrap around your fingers, supporting you delicately. In a small breath, you found yourself lightly squeezing the tiny vines as if he were holding your hand “What would happen to you and me? If I could reset and never fall down here… what would happen to us?”

Flowey slowly pulled your hand closer towards him, looking at you all the while as he left a small trail of kisses over your fingers. Your skin tingled, and you couldn’t tell whether it was from the air conditioning, or if it really was the way he treated you. So gentle, so caring… it was starting to feel bizarre seeing so many sides of him. Watching his flowery lips brush over your skin, your voice weakened “I guess we’ll never know…”

“Are you ready to get inside?” Flowey ignored your comment and asked his own question, though his voice was low, and surprisingly deep. You felt that tingle again and shuddered “Y-Yes…”

Flowey let go of your hand “I meant in the hotel, freak.”

“Yes, that too.”

Notes:

>(Funny side note that at the end here they were supposed to bang on the bench.)

>(I deemed it as uncomfortable as hell and thus removing it from the chapter. No hanky-panky for you readers. <3)

Summary:

“Man,” You commented boldly “I’m really fucked up.”

You sure are.

Notes:

>Sorry this took so long to post. Life keeps happening-- WHY LIFE TELL ME WHY--!>EDIT:::: I'm actually thinking of making an art contest soon. XD Not for strictly this fic, but for my persona NEWSPAPER in general. Winner would receive a free one shot request written by me! Comment if interested and I'll plot something out.

Chapter Text

Chapter Twenty-Two: In A World So Small

“I wouldn’t change anything that had happened, even if I had the power to do so.”

You added this as you made your way into the abandoned hotel, Flowey perfectly attached to your shoulder. There was no better feeling than a fully air-conditioned resort in the middle of the Underground that had been abandoned for years, let alone in Hotland where you figured monsters surely needed the refreshing rest stop after enduring temperatures above a hundred degrees. You were sticky, your mouth tasted something foul, and now you really were hoping that the showers worked around here. You gave a soothing sigh as you raked your fingers through your hair “From what I can tell, everyone is happy. To some extent, at least… who am I to fool around with someone’s happiness?”

“Easy for you to say.” Flowey retorted with a sigh of his own, most likely out of annoyance and from relief all at the same time. It was a given that anytime you mentioned a quote about ‘everyone’s so happy!’ Flowey would get pissy, considering he probably was not part of the large group of people you assumed to be feeling such bliss.

The main lobby of the hotel had a giant fountain residing at the center of it. In Mettaton fashion, it was a Mettaton themed fountain with the robotic box spewing water right out of it and directly onto the floor. The water was green, along with a few other mixes of different colors probably from the lack of cleaning and the filter that helped the machine recycle properly. The water Mettaton spat onto the floor had caused a large molded spot on the already worn tile-- the spot had broken away to reveal patches of mold, mildew, and even a bit of plantlife to form. Which was, well, shocking considering the dirt in Hotland was completely dried out and seemed almost incapable of growing anything other than cacti… which you still saw none at all on your way here. The molded spot had been spreading for a long time, considering it surrounded the fountain in a full circle, even the parts that weren’t dipped in water had become contaminated. Thankfully the air conditioning was on though, so that you and Flowey wouldn’t be breathing it in.

To the right of the main lobby was a long hallway of doors, and to the left was a shorter hall that seemed to lead to a restaurant area. Right up ahead there were a set of doors with a glowing neon sign above it reading “CORE”. There seemed to be an elevator right next to it, however a smaller blinking sign read “IN USE”, though it was safe to assume it was simply jammed. And right in between the elevators and the Core doors resided a blinking sign that simply read “MTT”, and it looked almost like a food service spot.

“At least this place has running water.” You said this, as you looked back to the gross fluids draining from the fountain in all its rusty glory. Flowey scoffed, but that was all he did.

“Well, let’s try and find a room?” You looked to Flowey with a small smile, and he gestured with a leaf to the right “That way then, this whole place ran mostly on electricity so let’s hope we don’t have to deal with electronic locks like at Alphys’.”

As you made your way down the hall to the right of the main lobby, you noticed that the tiling beneath your boots were covered in green smudges and stains, something you didn’t dare question as you glanced at all the doors. The lock system seemed normal, they didn’t look electronic, and there was even a keyhole for each one. Walking up to any of the doors, you turned the knob in hopes of easy access—but of course life wasn’t that simple. They were all locked.

“How’s your lockpicking skill?” You asked Flowey, who was already morphing his vines to look as sharp, small, and pointy as he possibly could. Almost like needles, he was shapeshifting his tendrils to try and find something that could actually work. “I’ll let you know in a minute.” He replied, already focused on trying to make the perfect pick for the lock. He unraveled himself from your body and slid down your arm, attaching to the door knob and wrapping himself around it so that he would remain against the door. He inserted his small vines through the keyhole and began to do… whatever it is that he did. You weren’t one to question how he learned these sorts of things anymore… after all, being trapped underground left him plenty of time to learn new things, especially after years and years of reading so many books.

The flower knew quantum physics, who were you to judge?

“I’ll leave you to it then.” You commented, still eyeing him as you backed away from the door. When he failed to reply, you turned around and decided to do some more exploring.

When you had made your way back to the main room, you could easily hear him picking away at the lock. The sounds of clicking reached as far as the center of the lobby until you were right next to the fountain of spewing sludge. Standing right next to the mucky water, you could smell how unclean it truly was, but thankfully the air-conditioning was still kicking and cleaning the air for you to breathe properly. You wouldn’t of minded venturing on the upper floors, though you couldn’t find any sets of stairs near the elevator, and the only other doors were the ones meant for the CORE and the other MTT food service.

Naturally, you were curious about the CORE room, something tempted you to go, but the moment you made your way right to the doors to push them open, the temptation was gone. Almost instantly… and surprisingly too quick for you to get a clear signal on what you truly wanted. Something had called out to you, but the moment you got close it had faded away. Your hand had reached out for the doors handle, but midway you had paused, and soon enough you retracted it. Maybe you were simply used to being with someone when exploring now? Maybe your body wasn’t a fan of exploring alone anymore ever since you and Flowey had teamed up.

You sighed.

What on earth were you going to do after all of this?

“This is driving me insane.” You whispered to yourself, pulling back from the door and turning your attention to the lobby once again.

Flowey.

You sighed.

Flowey, Flowey, Flowey…

You could still hear his clicking down the hall. Wondering if there was any more progress made, you now felt the need to go back to Flowey to ask. But you didn’t want to bother him either, since you figured picking locks took a lot of time and focus. Movies and television, let alone video games, hadn’t really done most of those ‘thief’ skills justice, considering the speed of which someone can do a task of breaking a door open varied. Some actors and actresses were picking locks or hacking computers in less than five seconds before breaking in… others were taking a more ‘realistic’ approach of perhaps over an hour before the character could return and ask on the progress.

The last time Flowey tried to show off his skills of working anything(other than you) was in the elevator that lead to the laboratory in Alphys’ basement. But even then he had failed to get the elevator fully functional, and instead the two of you plummeted down and crash landed.

You were hopeful, at the very least, that he could do something.

Your stomach growled, and you suddenly felt inclined to check out the food area with the MTT logo blinking over the set of doors.

Pushing them open, you left your fingerprints on the glass of the doors; they were covered in a rather damp dust of sorts, slightly gray but also a bit wet… probably from the spray of the fountain if it had been running for such a long time. You couldn’t imagine it having been long, since you figured the emergency power had been shut off all this time. The only possibility you could think of, when it came to if the Mettaton Resort still had running power all along, was if and only if it had its own backup generator. But a giant resort of this stature would have needed a lot of power to run, let alone to run for years and years since the Monsters first came up to the surface.

Stepping inside, the lights flickered on. Motion censored, the convenience of a convenience store surrounded you, as well as a variety of smells graciously pressed to your nose. They gave you mixed signals.

Was it pleasant? Was it gross? You shrugged.

It was a small store that perhaps only four people at a time would be able to fit in, with the exception of the receptionist behind the counter. It had the setup of a gas station shop; with a microwave, a cash register, a variety of chisps and snacks on display, including magazines and novelty merchandize that advertised Mettaton at his finest, and other pricey snacks and marketing gags. Walking yourself behind the counter, you found a lot of scratch and claw marks along the inside. Deep gashes that indicated struggle… but if not that it must have been stress. Rumor had it that working for Mettaton, who was a real drama queen, was known to cause stress and pain. To be overworked and underpaid, you couldn’t even fathom how, whoever originally worked here, managed to survive under the all-around-celebrity’s clutches.

You also spotted a small fridge, the type of size perfect for a college dorm. Kneeling yourself down and opening it up, there was plenty of packaged goods within the cool ice-box that even looked frosted over. And strange enough, the food was recognizable as (most definitely 100% confirmed) Mettaton brand, considering the first packaged product you pulled out was a steak cut in the shape of Mettaton’s face. From parfait’s to sandwiches, everything within the fridge still looked freshed since they had been perfectly sealed. But you suspected even sealed goods would go bad eventually, and if these had been here for years and years, you questioned how edible they even were. And hell, even if they were, what if the moment you opened them up and let air in they would suddenly mold right in your hands?

The thought made you drop Mettaton’s face on the floor. “Ew.”

But you were really hungry. Your stomach said so as it complained in gargly noises.

You could always come back to the fridge, you thought this as you shut it back closed and left the food stand behind to make your way to the restaurant area.

The place had a vacant smell, like the rest of the resort it smelled old and looked run down. You noticed the carpeting along the floor having been torn, looking as raggedy as the peeling wallpapers and posters along the walls. Most of the posters were advertisements of Mettaton’s many shows and channels on their Underground TV stations, and if not advertising for MTT, there were posters of Muffet’s bake sale, and the upcoming shows that would be performing on the mini-stage not far from where you stood. The tables and chairs at least looked useable.

As you walked through the restaurant to approach the stage, the floor creaked beneath your boots, implying underneath the carpeting there was wood, probably worn wood, but apparently not old enough for you to worry about collapsing through and plummeting into an abyss. The curtains that had once been used to close and prepare the next performer had long since fallen down onto the floorboards of the stage, practically torn to shreds in a heap.

“What’s in this shit that’s keeping it from going bad?!”

Flowey had found Mettaton’s face.

You yelled at yourself(mentally of course, that’d be really weird to yell out loud, right?) for smiling at the sound of his voice.

Flowey had either managed to unlock the room then make his way to the food station, or he had given up and done the same. Either way, he was rummaging through the fridge with the same thought in mind—finding something edible that won’t possibly kill him if eaten.

You hurried your way back to the flashing MTT sign, flickering either by cue or due to faulty wiring, and pushed the doors open. Inside of the gas station setup you could hear the rummaging of someone behind the counter, and you walked right back and spotted Flowey, tendrils and all, flailing at the different items. He turned his head to glance at you, before looking back to the food.

You pouted.

“This looks edible… but,” Flowey had started as he would pick up one packaging, inspect it, then move it over to glance at another “The fact that over the years it has yet to show any signs of age or mold makes me question what the hell’s in this shit.”

“Maybe it’s sort of like jerky?” You tried to reason, even though you knew fully well that there was really no excuse “That stuff can stay pretty edible for a long time, you know.”

“Oh I know.” Flowey commented, though pulling out the starfait took away all other excuses you could muster “But I’d like to see you make up some reasoning behind why the other products that aren’t meat related haven’t gone sour.”

You stuck out your tongue, watching as he started to put everything back into the fridge. You imagined that the chisps and other small snacks available in the room were probably stale, but you did question if they, too, were still good enough to eat…and if so what exactly they were made of that kept them ‘fresh’. Flowey pulled himself away, and instinctively you held your arm out for him. Just as so, he grasped onto it and crawled his way up to your shoulder. “I got the room open, there’s a shower and a huge bed and everything. If you want to freshen up considering you reek of sweat and desperation, I suggest going for it.”

“Do I really smell bad?” You knew your breath was terrible, since Flowey had told you this before, but now you actually lifted your free arm to sniff yourself. Flowey snorted “Think of it as a natural musk.”

You stuck out your tongue again.

“Stop doing that.” A leaf pressed to your tongue, practically pushing it back into your mouth before Flowey used his other leaf to lift your jaw, closing your lips “Are you thirsty or something?”

What did sticking out your tongue have to do with thirst? You simply shook your head at the question, though you did question other things as you touched your stomach. Flowey glanced down at the gesture, before looking back at your face “I’m not gonna trust the packaged goods here. If you’re hungry… I’ll head back to the Ruins to make us something to eat.” He smiled slightly “Something edible, even.”

“How are you going to go through the dirt to bring back a meal?” You questioned that as you walked the both of you out of the MTT station and back to the lobby. You stood right by the fountain at first, somewhat unwilling to lead Flowey back outside into the heat of Hotland, though he pointed with his leaf for you to exit the building. You hesitated, before doing as instructed and walking right through the automatic doors. The thought of Flowey actually burrowing around in the ground, carrying two full plates of anything seemed ridiculous. Just imagining it made you laugh, but Flowey seemed rather serious. Once you had fully stepped outside into the humidity, Flowey detached himself from you and crawled down your body to make it to the earth.

“A little dirt never hurt anyone.” Flowey, of all people(plants) said this with a teasing wink.

You rolled your eyes, before looking back to him “Just don’t leave me for long.”

Flowey looked up to you with an arch of his invisible brow. Maybe saying something as strange as that, let alone after all that the two of you had been through, seemed off. Flowey looked dumbfounded suddenly, and so were you. The two of you stared on in silence, and he looked away from your direct gaze “Just clean up, I’ll be back.”

He turned away from you, making a motion as if preparing to literally dive into the ground like it were a pool of water. But you stopped him rather quickly, needing to get something off your chest you reached down and out to him and spoke “Flowey, wait.”

Flowey stopped, turning his head back around to look over his leafy shoulder. He didn’t fully turn to you, but you had his attention.

Right now was probably a really crappy time to bring it up again, let alone after all the responses he had given to you about it… but…

“There has to be a way for you to come home with me…”

You brought up.

Not even one sentence in and Flowey rolled his eyes, and head, around and away from your general direction.

You persisted though, even going as far as moving around him to kneel in front of him. The only way he could avoid you now was if he actually turned fully around to face the MTT Resort “I know I keep bringing it up but it’s only because I have hope we can make this work. Frisk at first said they wouldn’t even rescue me but turned their answer around.”

“Huh?” Flowey snickered, squinting one eye and giving you a look of disbelief “Frisk almost didn’t come to get you? Wow. That’s pretty… shitty.”

“But they changed their mind.” You said, even going as far as letting one of your hands cup the back of his head. He relaxed against the palm of your hand, but continued to give you the type of expression of someone who didn’t believe a single word you were saying. You gave a nervous smile “Frisk can change their mind, and maybe they can with you, too.”

“Give it a rest.” Flowey stared, his eyes widened almost as if he were looking right through you rather than at you. You wanted to carry on but you knew you couldn’t. That was all you could muster, and he proceeded as if scolding you like a child who believed in fairytales “You of all people should know how quick I can snap. It’s bad enough trying to control myself from…” He took in a deep breath, before sighing out through clenched teeth “…from holding back, just from doing things for the sake of… if I feel like it or not.” He finally tore his beady brown eyes away from you, and you did the same even as he continued “It’s been years, but I’m still struggling with control... and you’ve been a victim of my games. Haven’t you had enough fooling around?”

“Flowey, you know it’s not like that at all.” You wanted to give him a reassuring squeeze, but he had just then pulled himself out of your touch. You weren’t sure what to even do with your hand then, so instead of leaving it hovering near him you let it rest on the dry dirt “You just have to try, and I’m sure—“

“What the hell do you think I’m doing now?” He snickered “Do you think I’m nottrying? But... like I said, it doesn’t matter… I’ve been trying and yet I’ve still hurt you, hurt other people… it’s hard to make connections after living years and years of being torn apart.”

Flowey suddenly surfed through the dirt, traveling his way around you so he can once again face Hotland and turn his back to you. You turned around to look at him as he breathed out, almost in relief “But I don’t care anymore. You said you’d visit now and again, right?”

“Of course, Flowey.”

“Then that’s all that matters.”

He looked over his leaf at you, once again, not fully letting his eyes look to yours, but still giving you attention “Getting to see you again is all that matters.”

You wanted to cry.

“You better promise.” He turned his head away, and Flowey chuckled “And if you break that promise I’ll break your legs.”

You wanted to laugh, but seeing as he failed to, you swallowed it down “Of course I promise.”

“Good.” Flowey said quickly, before sinking into the earth. All that remained was a tiny hole from where he dove in, and that was that.

You felt miserable over it, but if he was so insistent on brushing off the idea of leaving with you, then so be it. How often did he expect you to remind him to be hopeful?

Maybe he didn’t want to be reminded… maybe you bringing it up over and over just made it hurt more and more.

But you knew you couldn’t help it. Because deep down you really wanted to be with him. You wanted to try and make things work out, you wanted him to find a happy ending. Was that too much to ask for? To hope Frisk would shrug their shoulders and allow Flowey to join you on the surface? For Flowey to no longer feel pressured into lashing out? For you to find a happily ever after?

Maybe.

Retreating back inside the building, you now had the whole place to yourself until further notice.

Flowey kept dropping hints as to you needing a shower, and you definitely wanted to freshen up; it was time to take advantage of what you had been given. It felt as if it Alphys’ lab was so far away, and yet both the lab and Mettaton’s hotel were right in Hotland. But then why did it feel as if it had been years since you last took a decent bath?

When you walked back into the room Flowey had successfully broken into, he was right that there was a shower… but he failed to mention there being a really nice bathtub as well. The tub was large, but you only figured it was that size considering these rooms were probably meant to accommodate monsters, not humans who could possibly be two or three times smaller. It was a bit dusty, but you figured you definitely wouldn’t mind cleaning it up for the sake of trying it out. There were frickin’ jets along the edges of the tub! Jets. That was spa treatment worthy.

The bedroom followed multiple yellow shades; there was yellow along the walls with surprisingly intact paint, the furnishings of nightstands and Mettaton themed lamps were shades of yellow and orange, and even the bedsheets followed suit. You did notice that there was a much cleaner spot on the wall space right above the bed, as if a painting had once hung there… however that had long since been removed, leaving nothing more than a really nice looking square against the paint.

You let out a giddy noise as you ignored the gigantic king sized bed that sat at the center of the even larger suite bedroom, and you literally tossed and tugged off your boots and clothes before dashing into the master bath.

Everything was covered in dust, but the first thing you did was try the bathtub handle to make sure the water would run and, hopefully, not run green gunk like that of the water fountain. Most water fountains, however, reused the water already poured in… they only remained clean so long as the owner changed the filter, and so long as the owner cleaned the fountain now and then. So you suspected, and hoped, that the water that was used throughout the Mettaton resort had nothing to do with what was coming out of the fountain in the main lobby.

With a creaky turn of the knob for the hot water, out poured crystal, clean, and scentless liquid.

And you sighed happily, and thankfully, that the water was actually hot.

With the tub turned on, the jets started running, blaring small vibrating noises as the tub began to fill and the jets pushed out air. There was a row of them along the back end of the tub, perfect for a back massage that you definitely were in need of. All that was missing from this scenario was room service—but then again Flowey was taking care of that.

With your clothes already discarded; shorts, boots, shirt and all, you ran the water and began to scrub the tub in your naked glory. The least of your worries being Flowey reappearing to see you cleaning the bathroom while bare.

It didn’t happen, by the way. It was just a silly concern in the back of your head.

When you were certain you had cleaned it enough, and the room was already getting steamy, you finally began to fill it up with water. The free bubble baths and soaps that were sitting in topless bottles around the rim of the tub had long since dried out and evaporated… or however soapy fluids work… so you had to make do with the small bar of unopened hand soap that sat at the bathroom sink beside the faucet. You grabbed it just before turning off the tubs water, and you climbed right in and delicately sat yourself down.

You probably could have fallen asleep in the tub, you felt that you deserved as much. A nap sounded great, but you also didn’t want to sleep through whatever meal Flowey would be bringing back for you to enjoy.

Maybe a power nap wouldn’t be so bad?

You closed your eyes--

But you also knew a lot of drowning incidents happened with people falling asleep while in the tub, so you voted against getting too comfortable as you started to scrub yourself down.

And yes, you were tempted—tempted—to give yourself a little action. The jets pushed and vibrated away your troubles along your figure, you moved your back now and then to make sure they massaged all of you, and it was during this movement that one of the jets managed to massage in the best place that needed massaging-- so due to the jets massaging your whole body and just the thought of, once again, Flowey suddenly appearing to see you naked and vulnerable in a steaming tub… you were tempted.

“What are you doing in the tub~?” Flowey would tease.

And you would gasp, blush as dramatically as possible, and pretend to hide your body with your arms even though you would show all the parts he needed to see “Oh no! You caught me at such an embarrassing time!”

And you would quickly ask “What are you gonna do to me--”

--but you also voted against that.

Only because that sounded like a horribly written fanfiction, and you really needed to calm yourself down.

“Man,” You commented boldly “I’m really fucked up.”

You sure are.

And with that you finished up your bath time and climbed out, having spent less than thirty minutes in it. You were already completely pruny, and as if you were officially used to the ‘good life’ after just one hot tub bathing treatment, you expected there to be lotion available somewhere within the restroom. But alas, poor human, there were none available, and you had to simply dress yourself back up into your gross clothes before making your way to the bed.

Flowey had taken the liberty of dusting off the sheets. You could tell because, unlike everything else that had a thick layer of dead skin and whatever else dust had been made out of, the bed was not one of them. Either Mettaton used anti-something something to keep bed sheets from getting dirty, or Flowey knew you’d be sleeping there and didn’t want you to just roll into a pile of trash.

Flowey was very articulate about things, you noticed. Somewhat OCD when it came to things looking clean, spotless, and remaining organized. If not that, he was highly perfectionistic and needed things to be the best or else they were just no good. You figured hunger must have stopped him from cleaning the rest of the bedroom after having opened it; he wouldn’t of left it like this without there being some reason to take a break. That, and you took the hint because you had found him in the MTT area scanning the fridge—so doing the math you suspected as much.

You flopped onto the bed and yawned. Lying on your back, arms splayed out and legs wide open hanging off the edge, you stared at the ceiling for a short period of time before closing your eyes. Once again, wanting to fall asleep but fighting back the urge. Sleep sounded great, but you were also really really hungry… for something other than a sealed package of ‘face steak’.

You left the bedroom behind and went back to the main lobby to figure out what to do with your spare time.

Looking inside of the receptionists office area, you didn’t find much to snack on. But then again, that was expected considering it wasn’t a snack spot to begin with and was a place to keep track of who stayed and who left the Mettaton Resort. All you really managed to find were office supplies for writing notes, as well as different lists for the many guests that often showed up to stay. Every now and then as you scrolled over lists you would find a fake name(or at least what you assumed to be fake); Hughe Mann, G. Normas, Em Vee Funny… and if they were real names then you would mentally apologize at a later date.

After leaving the receptionist’s abandoned desk, you took a moment to stare vacantly at the door leading to the CORE room. Whatever room that may be.

It tempted you, most definitely, and yet each time you would approach and reach for the handle, the temptation would evaporate.

It was really really odd, but you dare not question your judgement as you backed off and went to the dining room instead.

The restaurant area thankfully had at least a few decent tables left, you figured it didn’t hurt to clean one off for whenever Flowey returned with lunch… or dinner… whatever—

When you had approached one of the tables(at least the most decent looking one) you patted away at the dust on the tablecloth, trying your best to clean it off for the sake of not having any sneezing fits during dinner—breakfast—or whatever. You cleaned the table and the chairs, and after having solved that issue you realized the next one would be to figure out how to get Flowey sitting at the table.

Not that he couldn’t, of course. He was more than capable of sitting himself at a table, or in a chair, but the point was you wanted him in a nice vase for the sake of this whole set up looking… festive?

You went this far, might as well go all the way, right?

So since it was still taking Flowey a few extra minutes to return to the hotel, you decided to wander around the restaurant area in search of a vase. Thankfully, there were plenty available for you to choose from.

You knew you had no right to exactly ‘choose’ which vase fit Flowey best or not, but you also figured by the time Flowey got back he wouldn’t exactly care which one he was planted in. For most of the journey just to get this far he had been transferred from one vase to the next; even to a bowl, and of course most of the way he was attached to your skin. So maybe you were making a big deal out of nothing?

The fact that you stood there, staring at four different types of vases that you had gathered from around the room, trying to see which one would match his petals, or which one fit his tall stature, you started to question your sanity.

How much did you like this flower…?

“This one.” You told yourself aloud, grabbing for the classic vase and practically cradling it in your arms as you made your way back to the table you had cleaned up.

Setting it on the space across from where you planned on sitting, you adjusted the vase as if it’s position would matter, before smiling in approval at all you had done.

You had cleaned the table, you were smelling good, all that remained needing to be finished was eating something before your stomach caved in on itself. Then afterwards you would take a nice relaxing day at the Mettaton Resort, all expenses paid of course, and then be on your merry way to leaving.

…

The reminder that you would be leaving Flowey really soon made your stomach churn. If not that, you were most definitely starving.

Almost as if summoned just by the sheer thought, Flowey announced himself with a loud noise not too far off. It sounded muffled, almost like he were being suffocated by a pillow, so you made your way over to investigate. Though it turned out that he hadn’t entered the building yet, and he was just screaming right outside the automated doors—loud enough to hear him all the way in the dining hall.

“Got it!” He said, once you stepped forward to let the doors sense your presence and part ways for you. Flowey held up two amazing dishes before your very eyes, both exactly alike; Steamed veggies, what you considered to look similar to mashed potatoes and gravy, and then a slab of…what you compared to meatloaf. You weren’t sure where Flowey could have gotten the meat from, considering the Underground didn’t seem to show signs of containing livestock anywhere, let alone you hadn’t heard any cows or pigs in the Ruins when you made your way through.

As if on cue, he replied simply “It’s fake meat, made out of vegetables and some spices and shit I threw together to taste like the real deal.”

“An all vegetarian diet.” You replied, looking over the plates with… well, somewhat disappointment. You were excited at first considering you were starving, and to top it all off you loved meat… but the idea of eating something that looks like meat but wasn’t made you question how good it actually would be. But then again, the MTT packaged goods that had meat and parfaits also made you question what was in them. So you couldn’t judge.

And Flowey also reminded you “Hey, it’s either this or that crap Mettaton has down here.”

Of course Flowey won. He’d already proven to be a great baker, so this would just be another test that showed how well he was at working with vegetables. And you couldn’t lie to yourself that the dish looked disgusting—it looked amazing! You could feel your mouth pool with drool as you helped Flowey get situated on your arm to escort him to the restaurant.

You felt rather proud when you presented him a very nice looking table, including a vase full of dampened dirt waiting for him, and you hoped he would notice the work you pulled off to try and have a nice dinner. Flowey did take notice of the vase, but the table itself he didn’t comment on before simply letting his vines set down both of the plates. He got himself comfortable in the vase you had found for him, and you got yourself situated in your chair.

It wasn’t until you were staring directly at the meal before you that you noticed specs of dirt having gotten into it, just as you had feared. Not to mention some grass here and there.

“I told you that you’d get dirt in it.” You snickered, but like he had said earlier, a little dirt never hurt anyone, right? You grabbed an abandoned fork, wiped it the best that you could on your shirt, and started digging in. And you were right, the stuff that looked like mashed potatoes were definitely mashed potatoes.

And the meatloaf, other than the specs of mud here and there, tasted as good as Flowey said it would. He had lied about it tasting just like regular meatloaf, but it tasted good nonetheless.

Something tasted… off… about the meal, but it was decent.

“So have you had meat before?” You asked, trying to start a bit of casual conversation during dinner. It wasn’t as if there was silence between you two, the both of you would talk now and again about random things that came to mind. Flowey especially would brag about what type of spices he used in the dish and how he would manage to get the potatoes to be thick and creamy rather than, what he called, chunky and clunky. Everything was fine as if the chat you two shared before he left never happened, but you figured it would be nice to hear about his experiences with, what you labelled as, ‘surface food’.

“Of course I have.” Flowey responded quickly, having finished at least half his plate before replying to your, supposedly, dumb question “We had meat down here. You know, things like beef jerky, steak, chicken… and I’m not talking about that shit Mettaton sells, either.” He glanced upward, as if actually looking for something “Forever and a half ago, sometimes wild animals would fall down. After awhile they stopped but we would have all sorts of stuff.” He lowered his head back down to look at you again, sighing a bit “They would die on impact, though. Why humans don’t die is beyond me, but the fall was long enough to kill whatever else fell down here.”

“I know chickens can’t fly, but couldn’t they at least float enough to save themselves?” You tried to ask, realizing his plate was still half full while yours was completely empty now “What about things like eggs? Did you ever have eggs? Or milk? Things that came from these livestock animals?”

“We have other ways of making food.” Flowey said somewhat smugly, as if pleased with your interest in learning from him. You could tell he was rather fond of being a ‘know it all’. “Toriel grew a bunch of stuff, there are some monsters who would have gardens from the few seeds they would find here and there… but each monster has their own special magic, even Vegetoid could literally produce vegetables from thin air.”

“Was it the same for eggs and milk?” You tried to get back on topic.

Flowey shrugged his leaves “I’m gonna say yes, but don’t take my word for it. And I’m sure we had other outside sources sometimes as well, like when people threw shit away. We would find tons of crap from the surface at the garbage dump.”

Milk and eggs, from a garbage dump.

You questioned that mentally but decided not to push on the subject any further. You wouldn’t be eating underground for long, after all, you were almost home. It would be back to normal eggs and normal milk and normal meat, part of your normal life, right?

You quietly watched as Flowey finished off the rest of his plate.

The atmosphere was relaxing, the setting as romantic as any abandoned restaurant could appear to be, and all that was missing was some gentle music in the background, a few candles, and maybe a nice bouquet of flowers as a centerpiece. You snorted at the imagery, but you said your thoughts aloud “This is sort of like a date.”

“Really?” Flowey’s plate was finally just as clean as yours, and he had occupied his remaining time by licking at the vines he had been eating with. Almost like he were licking his imaginary fingers, complimenting himself on his own cooking skill “What sort of date?”

“A romantic one.” You smiled at his gestures “Being in a nice restaurant, having a fancy meal…” You cleared your throat then, looking away from him and leaning on your arm “…being with the one you care about. That sort of date.”

“Oh.” Flowey said, and with a quick glance in his direction you see the flush of pink cover his face. He looked flustered from the remark, and even started to brush his leaves together to try and keep himself busy from looking directly your way. You were quite proud of this, though the mood turned into something else when he added “This would be better if you could stay.”

“You know I can’t…” You practically sigh out your reply.

You had to admit you were tired of hearing his begging. Let alone how his begging went on and off like the flip of a switch; one moment he would tell you you had to get out, the next he would beg for you to stay with him.

But you were in the wrong for sighing at something like this, since it did happen to deal with Flowey’s feelings for you. He took offense to you brushing it off, and he even pulled his head back as if he were close to you—which he was across the table, and now farther due to pulling back “What, I can’t ask you to stay, but by all means you can keep asking for me to go with you? What sort of flip floppin’ world do you live in?”

“It’s not that.” You now had both your arms on the table top resting before you, as you stared downward in hopes of avoiding eye contact “It’s easier for both of us if we lived on the surface, don’t you think? You need sun, and you have to admit you like the company—“

“And you admitted awhile back you hate people.” Flowey retorted, literally flicking his leaf back as if flipping his hair over his shoulder, just as dramatically as you figured it would be “Every excuse you have about us living on the surface together works just as well for us living in the Underground. Frisk won’t let me leave, you have the option to stay or go… and besides…” He looked to you then, directly into your eyes as he huffed “Which is better, anyway? Living in some lousy house or apartment, wherever you fuckin’ live, with a bunch of people you could give less than two shits about… or a whole world under your own control? With that one special person you like…”

Flowey swallowed “Or, one special plant… or whatever.”

You give a nervous smile “Are you confessing something?”

He rolled his eyes “Are you?”

You sighed, closing your eyes as you referred back to his problem “I’m noticing a pattern of needing to be in control of something. You know, just because you won’t be in control of the world on the surface doesn’t mean you can’t control your own actions and your own life--”

“Right.” Flowey brushed you off, pretending to yawn.

Of course you went back to square one “Look, Flowey… this whole journey we’ve had taught me enough to know I do have people I care about, and who care about me too. I told you that… my only reason for keeping myself from getting close to anyone was because of what happened to my friend. I was scared of losing someone again, and I don’t want to lose anyone again—“

“What about losing me?” Flowey almost hissed—almost, and you flinched. “What about what all this is?”

Once again, you felt stuck and unsure about your next move.

What else could you say? After all, he was right. It wasn’t fair to him that you were talking about not losing more important persons in your life, but apparently leaving him underground was something to just move on from. You swallowed back the lump forming in your throat, whether it was from the meal you had just eaten, or from nerves, you couldn’t tell… but something wasn’t sitting right in your stomach.

But it had only been a second before you realized you felt something under the table. Something close, and crawling—stretching over your ankles, and slowly curling around your legs as they slid up your calves and tickled your thighs.

“Stay.” Flowey breathed out lowly.

His eyes had become almost vacant, half-lidded as he kept himself fixated on you. You saw that during the discussion, he had apparently slid some of his roots behind himself to let them glide down under the table to surprise you. You were getting concerned, but he pressed on “What can I do to make you stay here with me? Why won’t you stay?”

You were worried he would snap again, and the imagery of being impaled against a laboratory wall made you shudder.

He paused, blinking slightly at your response that had nothing to do with his question for you.

He seemed to have snapped out of it, surprised from your reaction. His empty brown eyes showed signs of life again as he blinked more “Huh?”

The vines had suddenly tightened, constricting your legs like a snake ready to kill. You yelped, and your shocked noise had startled him enough to release you almost immediately. His vines retracted just as fast as they had squeezed, as if never having been there in the first place “I’m…” He started, now looking confused as he lowered his gaze down to his own vase of dirt. It was apparent in the heat of the moment he wasn’t sure what came over him, maybe he had began to grab you absent-mindedly? Maybe it was just a reflex of his… that paired well with the topic of making you stay.

Flowey sighed, and you smiled nervously still “Just breathe, okay?”

“Sorry.” He murmured, but obeyed.

Flowey took in a deep breath, before slowly letting it out and closing his eyes. He tried to concentrate on whatever else he had been wanting to say earlier. As intimidating of a moment that had been, it was almost… relieving to see him trying to change.

“Anyway…” He changed the subject and gave his own small smile toward you “The Core is next after this, and you could say it’s sort of… draining. You’ll need your rest to get through that place, so you can head to bed whenever you’re ready.”

“You’re not going to sleep, too?” You asked quickly, watching as he gathered his empty plate, and yours, and stacked them together before hopping off the table with his pot. Flowey used his tendrils to walk himself and the plates out of the restaurant and to the main lobby, where you followed him quickly. You figured the conversation you two shared would cause some more tension to form between the both of you, but you didn’t think it was anything as bad as avoiding you the rest of the night.

“I’ll get sleep soon.” Flowey said, and you were thankful for this as you watched him once again step back out into the humid heat of Hotland. Back next to where he had first delved in to return to the Ruins, Flowey wrapped his vines around the plates as if protecting them from something, as he uprooted himself from his vase and climbed out and onto the ground. He wriggled himself into getting comfortable in the earth “We’re almost out but it’s still a long way ahead, since you gave those spider freaks the rest of your snacks I figured I’d make more. Maybe something for breakfast tomorrow.”

“Oh, yeah good idea.” You said thoughtfully, tilting your head and smiling down at him as he looked up to you “I miss your snacks.”

“I’m sure.” His cheeks reddened again, and he looked away “Well, get some rest, alright? I’ll be back in a bit…”

You nodded quickly, taking a step back as he began to burrow his way downward, and once he was out of sight, you turned around to head back--

“Wait a sec.”

You turn back and spotted Flowey having re-emerged, his head poking out of the new hole he had dug up. His face was still as bright as a tomato, and you hurried to approach “Yeah? Did you need something?”

Flowey sniffed.

…

You wrinkled your nose as he sniffed again “Um…?”

“You smell nice.” He commented, and just like that, he’s gone again in an instant.

“Thank you?”

Notes:

>I told myself I'd finish this before I went off on vacation, and I DID! :D

>I'll be inactive for awhile but bare with me. <3 I hope you guys enjoy.

Summary:

...his eyes had returned to their gentle hazel's, though they almost seemed panicked “They were portioned… they were portioned so that they would last long enough.”

Notes:

>LEMON FRESHNESS WARNING ALL THESE LEMONS WHAT TO DO WITH ALL THIS LEMON-->Man, I really hope I can finish this story before the year ends as planned... XD Life's smackin my butt.

>Not in the kinky way either >;T>EDIT:: Updated it from "No Archive Warnings Apply" thing to "Graphic Depictions of Violence" thing... cuz I'm kinda really late and should've changed that since chapter 12

Chapter Text

Chapter Twenty-Three: Determined To Love P.1

You slowly opened your eyes, staring at the dark ceiling for a moment, before blinking gently to try and doze back off.

But your stomach wouldn’t let you get back to sleep, because you were suddenly starving.

As delicious as the vegetarian dish was, it apparently wasn’t enough to sustain your body built on the proteins from meats, so it gurgled in protest… requesting more food.

You held your stomach with a small sigh as you turned your head just a tad to look over the dark room.

Flowey rested loosely around you, his vines were tangled over your form and he was definitely fast asleep. It was surprising to hear his gentle breathing so close to you, since you had never been around (or awake) when he would choose to sleep. This was the first time you caught him with his eyes closed, and his guard down.

Not long after he had left to make snacks for the journey ahead, you found yourself getting tired and really needing to take a break. Of course it consisted of sleeping, but you figured it would only be a nap. You bee-lined to the bedroom unlocked for your use and flopped into the cleaned(or at least dusted) sheets before closing your eyes. And that’s why, moments ago, you opened them up hours later.

With the lights out, Flowey asleep, and your body in need of sustenance.

It gurgled again at the reminder, and you tried to distract yourself by complimenting Flowey in the back of your head.

He was adorable when he slept, he had a natural innocent face no matter how sinister and dark he could shapeshift it to appear. His petals drooped slightly to add towards an animated slumber, and the soft breaths that would escape him before he would breath in again were to die for. He was precious to you… and you’d like to think you were precious to him, too.

Your stomach yelled.

“ Crap… ”

You finally gave in, determined to figure out what sort of snacks Flowey had brought while you were unconscious. You made sure to carefully peel his roots and vines off of you, not wanting to hurt him in any way, but also not wanting to wake him up or have him catch you stealing his food. And it honestly took you quite a bit, because now and then when you would push him back, he would naturally return to holding you. You smirked all the while still trying to escape his clutches, and then eventually you managed and stumbled out of bed.

Apparently while you were sleeping, he also decided to clean the rest of the room. It was hard to see in the darkness, but you could smell what seemed similar to cleaning materials, and a heavy layered scent of dust that hovered in the air. If he didn’t give the entire room a hard scrubbing, he definitely at least dusted everything else… and damn, all this while you were sleeping?

Wow, you were a heavy sleeper.

You did your best to wander around in the dark. It would have been worse if the room were smaller and full of objects to smack into, but you resorted to crawling on the floor and instinctively hunting for your backpack. Throughout your entire journey Flowey’s been consistent in one thing; stashing the goods in your bag for safe keeping. So naturally, when you felt the bag and recognized the familiar texture of the material, you snatched it up and headed towards the bathroom.

It didn’t take long before the bathroom door was closed and the lights were on, and you proceeded to raid your own backpack. And yes, just as expected, the baked pastries were stashed within. Lazily hidden in your bag, pressed under your journal that hadn’t been touched in a while, were neatly wrapped sweetbreads. One similar to Melon-pan, another similar to a sweet roll, and a smaller sized one similar to a simple glazed donut. All three of them different in sizes and shapes, however all similarly decorated in tiny yellow bits of powder. The powder tasted unlike anything you’ve had before, but your stomach yelling indicated anything would do, and you scarfed all three of them down.

Really. You even coughed and almost choked on the last one you had shoveled in your mouth, but you managed just fine by drinking some of the faucet water from the bathtub(You were crawling around anyway, so you figured why not keep it up).

It was a given he’d make more anyway, considering it was definitely something he loved to do. Cooking or baking in general seemed like something he had been doing for a long time since Flowey had been underground, and he had perfected it most definitely; since your body approved of it. It didn’t stop you from feeling a bit bad that you had eaten everything he made in less than twenty minutes and were still undeniably hungry. Seriously. Your stomach felt horribly empty still and you weren’t sure whether you were just dreaming and secretly eating air or if the pastries were just that light and fluffy . You devoured Flowey’s goods all for nothing, they barely made a dent in your tummy… but at least it wouldn’t yell at you for a while, you figured.

Ever since dinner your stomach’s been grumbly and annoyed, the empty feeling was carried from the dining room to the bedroom where you tried to nap your troubles away—only to wake up with an angry belly and the lights out. You can’t seem to shake that empty feeling though, that feeling of uncertainty.

You figured your stomach was growling due to hunger, but if even the pastries did nothing to you, then what was the problem?

With a soft sigh, you turned off the bathroom light and stepped back into the bedroom, wandering your way back to the bed. Carefully, you laid yourself back down in hopes of sleeping once more, but now you were wide awake, and simply staring at Flowey as he laid beside you.

Flowey could shrink and grow his tendrils at will, especially when rooted in dirt—so it was rather funny seeing that he didn’t have control of it when he was asleep. They simply laid in a pile, like long strings surrounding him. And every now and then they would twitch here and there while he shifted in his slumber. It was bizarre seeing him in this state, considering he looked terrifyingly innocent compared to everything you knew about him. Maybe that was one of the reasons he never truly slept around or near you if he ever bothered to sleep at all—just so he could avoid you noticing that ‘awww, what an angel!’ face of his while he snoozed.

How could someone so soft and gentle looking be so…

Rough and frisky?

Your mind seemed to shift one way, then another, all the while still wide awake and watching as the plant you adored seemed perfectly capable of resting well and easy. A small portion of your brain knew very well that you needed to get some sort of rest… another still craved food or whatever it was growling about… and another sliver of your mind was suddenly craving something else entirely.

And eventually, that sliver gave you a realization that… ‘ Damn, Flowey’s the top.’

I mean, not that your genderless/genderfluid personality really cared , but you did figure it was only fair to take turns being top and bottom now and then. Though apparently Flowey made it rather obvious what stance he preferred, and that was a definite dominant one.

He had the strength to back his wants up though, and while you had strengths of your own that you knew you had often used to your own advantage, you still started to wonder what it would be like to take the upper-hand on Flowey. You two didn’t exactly have sex often(excluding the times at Alphys’ lab considering it was the first and technically last time you guys banged), any of the times you had resulted in Flowey taking control and doing most of the work. And the only real reason you two stopped was because Flowey had turned into a nymphomaniac suicidal murderer—

Dammit, what a charmer.

Always putting the moves on you.

How dare he.

Let’s ignore the fact that you had flaunted and flirted a lot around him yourself and almost triggered him to turn batshit crazy-- but your point still stood strong… in your head, at least.

And that gave you enough strength to slowly move yourself closer to the flower on the bed. Un-rooted, asleep and with his defenses lowered, you casually brushed a finger over one of his petals. The golden flower twitched, and though he grumbled lightly and moved some, he remained fast asleep as he nuzzled more into his pillow. Every part of him must have had a nerve, and you were embarrassed to admit that you thought his petals were more like hair than actually attached to his...veins? Whatever it was that plants had--

But every time you would lean forward and grace your finger over a vine, or a petal, or even his stem… every part of him twitched and reacted. It was obvious he wasn’t exactly used to such touches either, considering he would remain asleep the entire time. His face, at the end of your curious roaming, was flushed and pink, but he was definitely still in a deep sleep.

You gently picked up one of his tendrils, feeling it warm up slowly between your fingers as you lifted your body to sit upright fully. You quietly moved, only letting the bed creak a little bit as you managed to place your legs on either side of him, and you hovered over his plant-body carefully just as you took the tendril of his and placed it to your lips. With a smile, you gave it a small kiss, then a light lick, more happy at the approving reactions you were managing to get out of the sleepy Flowey. If his sleeping face didn’t contort and stir enough for you, considering it was more deeply flushed than before, and his sudden quick breaths that escaped him every time he squirmed weren’t enough… then surely the fact that the tendril you held, let alone the others now underneath you, were growing red meant something much more to you. They were red and starting to blossom. And from your somewhat decent memory, you knew what that meant… and you were already getting excited just thinking about it.

This was terribly wrong , you were feeling rather timid suddenly at the thought of him waking up to you screwing with him—literally. You two had feelings for each other, but any amount of emotional confessions like these could put him over the edge again. You knew that. So why was this obsession happening again? Was it the fact that he had rejected your hopes of him reaching the surface before leaving? Was it the dormant reminder that you two hadn’t gotten that touchy in a long time? Or maybe what rose within you was the spark of the kiss you two shared just before entering the MTT Resort…? Your own breathing hitched as you licked at the tendril in hand again, feeling it tense against your tongue as you practically leaned over him in a straddle-like position. If he actually had a lap, you’d definitely be grinding on it. But you let the tendril go when you realized there were half lidded red eyes staring up at you. With Flowey’s eyes usually leaning more towards hazel, the red was almost startling. The only reason you didn’t duck for cover was because they were also clouded and unfocused-- an obvious sign that he was still somewhat sleeping. Thank god.

You had problems.

“ Can I be top, Flowey? ” You dared to ask him, even though he was basically looking right through you as you lowered your face to greet his. You couldn’t believe you were going this far. You couldn’t believe that after all this that the two of you had been through, these were the levels you’d reach just to be with him. To share something with him. Let alone, while he slept of all things he could/should be doing. Your mind raced as fast as your heart, the empty feeling in your gut was replaced with butterflies that fluttered uncontrollably, all the while he stared on at you through half-lidded sleepy eyes, the red almost glowing in the dark.

With a small hum, you closed your eyes and kissed him.

A soft and sweet kiss at first, though it was long and intimate… and soon enough you had lowered your hips and let your hands cradle the back of his head as you deepened it. The kiss had gotten heated due to your excitement, and you found yourself suddenly slipping your tongue into his mouth. You could hear his flustered sleepy noises, his gasps, feeling his tendrils wrap around you, you could taste the sweetness of his lips as your tongue--

...wait his tendrils were what--

Just as your eyes opened wide, you saw angry rubies glaring as he slammed his teeth on your tongue. You shouted—mostly from paid but there was a mixture of shock and fear as well—and before you had a moment to try anything else the tendrils that had snuck around your waist squeezed the breath out of you, before flipping you immediately off of the bed.

Ouch, rejection.

“WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK.” Flowey spat.

He literally spat as if your kiss tasted like actual poison as his vines pulled away from you just to begin wiping away at his mouth “WERE YOU MOLESTING ME IN MY SLEEP, YOU PERVERTED SHIT?!”

“ ME?! ” You were fumbling a bit due to having been so suddenly removed from the bed, and your head smashing against the floor a second ago definitely didn’t help. Why you were bothering to defend your reasoning’s you had no idea, considering even you knew you were in the wrong for trying to get dirty while he slept. “Flowey, it’s not like you haven’t been touching me and making the moves and--”

“What the HELL was in my mouth?!” Flowey was still spitting and, now, wiping his mouth with his own vines. Damn, you figured it wasn’t that bad, but he was sure acting like it was a big deal.

“Flowey I was just thinking that maybe I could--”

“WHILE I’M SLEEPING?!”

It soon enough became apparent that he wasn’t exactly angry , more so that he was heavily embarrassed, considering his face was bright pink and he was refusing to look even remotely in your direction “WHAT-- WHAT ARE YOU?! SOME KINDA HORNY ANIMAL?!”

And to keep himself from screaming too loudly, he suddenly turned his head and faceplanted(haha) into his pillow. Then he proceeded to let out a muffled yell that was thankfully drowned out from the fabric. The screech probably could have made your ears bleed from how high pitched it had gotten, but it was long enough to give you time to settle yourself down. You were still embarrassed, but apparently you weren’t as embarrassed as Flowey was. Your body was still trying to calm down from its temporary high due to the adrenaline that pumped through you thanks to your perverted acts, so it took you a moment before you realized you probably had gone too far with your sexual endeavors. And it didn’t help that you realized Flowey really hadn’t ever done anything to you while you slept. Even after he had… well… killed you awhile back, he waited for you to wake up before bothering to put the moves on you.

Maybe you had made a mistake.

“Ah… sorry…” You tried, fidgeting a bit in your position as you listened to Flowey’s scream calm to a silent huff. You figured by now Flowey might actually be suffocating himself, but you pushed on “I was having trouble sleeping, and after I ate all the snacks… I guess my mind wandered and I just--”

Flowey’s head whipped, his attention almost immediately directed at you “You what. ”

You stiffened “I was just thinking about how you always seem so--”

“No. Not that, you perverted moron.” Flowey slowly lifted himself on his tendrils, however he quickly darted off the bed and towards the obviously searched backpack of yours. When you first woke up you didn’t adjust to the dark so easily as he had, though since you’d been awake all this time you were finally able to see in the dark without the need of light. But that changed when he immediately stretched a vine out to flick on the bedroom lights, and you winced from being blinded. If you wanted to joke, you would have hissed and whispered ‘ it burns usssss~’ but obviously this was no joking matter. He was seriously pissed off, but apparently more so at you eating his snacks rather than preparing to ride him as he snoozed.

When your eyes finally readjusted to the light of the room, you bit your lip at the sight of the trail of crumbs you had lead towards the bathroom. You found it odd that he was more annoyed at the snacks having been devoured than you trying to get down and dirty while he was asleep, but there he was… sifting through your backpack almost desperately.

“I woke up because my stomach’s been yelling at me in my sleep.” You admitted as you carefully made your way closer to him. Flowey’s whole head was hidden within your backpack, and though any other time you would have told him not to be so nosey, you figured now was an exception since you did two pretty crappy things to him in one night. That, and after all the times he’s already secretly hidden snacks in your back, it probably didn’t matter considering he’s seen the inside of it plenty. “And before I went to bed I remembered you went off to make snacks for tomorrow or… today or something. So I just opened my bag and ate everything.” The more you spoke up and confessed, the more pitiful you felt you sounded. It sounded ridiculous that you had gone from hungry and ravenous to sexual in a manner of minutes-- not that you could measure time all too well since you first fell underground.

“They were…” Flowey finally emerged from your bag, his eyes had returned to their gentle hazel's, though they almost seemed panicked “They were portioned… they were portioned so that they would last long enough.”

“Long enough?” You rubbed your cheek, suddenly unable to look at him directly “Portioned? I… I didn’t realized you had taken such great measures to make them. I’m sorry, really I am…”

“And you feel okay?”

You looked back up and he stared right into your eyes. They were still wide, and they still seemed full of worry and almost a sense of fear . Had what you done really been that bad? All the signs; his organizing and his counting and precision… had you truly triggered something?

Arching a brow, you nodded, though you failed to admit the pit in your stomach was still empty “Well, yeah I’m okay… why wouldn’t I be?”

At your words alone, Flowey’s wide eyes had softened a bit more, before he slowly closed the bag “Hmph. Well.” After having closed the bag, his two main leaves on either side of his stem lightly patted the top in thought, as if he were trying to figure out some dumb excuse as to why he would be so worried over you. You would have loved to reach out and touch him, tell him ‘ It’s totally fine to worry about me because you love me, Flowjo~’ But you already fucked up so you tried to hold yourself back as he mumbled “Well… if you’re still fucking starving after having had dinner already, I guess it wasn’t enough for you. I’m a little worried.”

The fact that he was worried about you made you even more worried about yourself.

The pit in your stomach gurgled only slightly, but it was soft enough to (thankfully) not be heard by Flowey. His eyes remained focused on the backpack, maybe pondering over what to say next, or waiting for you. You didn’t know what to say though. It would make too much sense to simply admit that your stomach was still empty, but all that came out was “I’m fine, really.”

And with that, he snorted as he made his way back to the light switch to flick it off “I’m sure.”

You could barely see Flowey in the dark now that your eyes had gotten used to the light. He crawled his way back to the bed, his form had gotten larger in size so his tendrils and vines were a lot longer than they had been while at your bag. Soon enough he was back in bed with you, though both of you remained over the blankets, and instead of actually getting back to sleep, you stared at the ceiling. You didn’t dare look over to him to see if he was doing the same, but you knew he was awake because his roots moved and stirred as if they couldn’t keep still due to restless thinking, and every so often they would brush over your arm or your leg. The feeling would tickle, cause a reaction of goosebumps to crawl over your skin, the reminder of the rush you felt from trying to get dirty with the plant minutes ago, but then whenever he’d stop the feeling would stop as well.

And you would sigh quietly. And that would be it… but then the process would repeat.

“I’ll make more snacks tomorrow before we leave.” Flowey broke the silence between the both of you, trying to divert the topic towards the mission at hand rather than solving your internal crisis of ‘I still wanna try and top that.’

You finally turned to rest on your side, facing him as he did the same with his head. His cheeks were still flushed, either due to the reminder of what else happened other than eating the snacks, or because of your longing stare that you hoped was obvious.

“Is it so hard to… fucking shake me awake?” Flowey smirked.

You found your own body heating up and you looked away again. At least, you tried to, since suddenly you found a vine sliding around your shoulders like an actual arm comforting you, and the very tip had turned your head to face back at him as he mumbled somewhat grumpily “All you gotta do is ask, idiot. No need to try and do weird shit to me in my sleep.”

The pit in your stomach fluttered.

“Is it possible to top a tentacle monster?” You finally blurted out your thoughts. Almost immediately though, Flowey’s vine that had forced your head to look in his direction quickly smacked over your mouth as a means of shutting you up. You huffed through your flared nostrils as his eyes squinted “This whole time I never thought you were as dumb as you looked or acted but now I’m questioning everything I’ve ever thought--”

You mumbled, and he rolled his eyes before releasing your mouth to let you speak “Okay I know you’re not technically a monster and those aren’t—tentacles or whatever but I’m serious—the only reason I was doing that stuff was because I… had gotten curious about if it were possible to… uh… top you.”

“What does it mean to top ?” He had a tendril brush over his chin at the word, and you groaned “Dominate, to be dominant… like to--”

“Seme.” Flowey snapped two vines together like fingers, and you gawked “ What. ”

“Like in those manga books Alphys used to read. The seme was the top, and uke was the bottom—but I guess that was only for certain things.” Flowey had loosened his hold on you just so he could start dishing out whatever he had learned from Alphys “It wasn’t used in all her pervert shit so I’m guessing the question is am I--”

“Not everything you read and watch in Alphys’ lab is accurate, Flowey.” You tried, already getting a headache “Don’t get me started on how the real world isn’t like the anime and manga you’ve seen.”

Flowey snickered, licking his teeth as you rubbed your head “I mean, that Space Monster Gummi shit we watched proved that the real world’s just like anime. Or at least, the people in the real world definitely have anime fantasies of tentacles fucking their brains out.”

You were speechless, and the fact that you didn’t respond indicated that Flowey could keep going “Well, anyway. What do you mean?”

“Flowey… it’s like this…” You sat up just a bit, shrugging away the few vines that had laid on you so you could get more comfortable “Would you, for example, be alright with me doing all the things you’ve done to me to you instead? Would you be okay with, basically, me doing--”

“Can you?” Flowey asked.

You wrinkled your nose “Can I what?”

“If all this time you could summon vines then by all means--”

“That’s… not what I meant.”

Flowey was ridiculous.

You tried one more time “What I mean is… the stuff we did back in Alphys’ lab, it felt like you were mostly in control… I guess when I was putting the moves on you I wanted to know what it felt like to be the dominant one instead of the one who just follows orders...”

The golden flower furrowed his brows “I LIKE being in control, though.”

“And I know you do.” You reached a hand out and softly brushed your fingers under one of his petals. Almost instinctively he leaned into your touch as you smiled “I had gotten so eager I just pushed everything to the side but… I would really like to try it out.”

Of course before Flowey you had a few flings, it wasn’t like sex in general was new to you. However most of your partners had always been the more ‘dominant’ type who would much rather pitch instead of catch. But even if you found yourself naturally falling under the ‘bottom’ category and having dominant folks gravitate towards you, there was no emotion involved other than playful lust. You tried to remain detached, even if the other person found the night supposedly magical and they wanted more out of it, you would push them off and be done with it. What part of ‘one night stand’ didn’t they get? You wouldn’t even kiss them during it, so what made them think anything more would come out of it?

And that sort of life was fine for you. It was perfect for the longest time. Sex now and then if you wanted it, say your goodbye’s to them in the morning, settle with always being on the receiving end… and for the most part it was perfect.

That is, until this exact moment.

And to reinforce this, considering Flowey still gave you a somewhat disapproving look, you realized you did care about what he thought and how he felt. And you definitely did want kisses and intimacy out of all this. Go figure. The odd one out of your long list of bang buddies was neither human or monster, and was soulless.

And you would much rather have him as more than a buddy .

“You’re not going to stick anything in me are you?” Flowey pulled back slightly.

“I won’t be… uh… doing anything that we haven’t done before, I promise.” You said, since Flowey still stared at you with disinterest “I’ll just do the work and you can relax.”

You technically didn’t know what Flowey was ‘into’ when it came to kinks and… other sexual things. All you got out of the conversation was that he liked being dominant, which you were already used to. It wasn’t until the word ‘relax’ was spilled that Flowey’s expression seemed to also relax some. He shifted his gaze away from you for a second, probably to think over the proposal.

Even though you didn’t know the time of day, it felt almost around midnight due to the darkness of the room. This was never something you’d expect in a million years, to be honest. Having conversations about wanting sex at night with a flower after having ate all his food.

Flowey finally looked back to you, and the blush on his features returned “Alright. Entertain me.”

With that said, it took him almost no time at all for a vine of his to fully blossom. With a soft and quivering breath escaping from Flowey, the red flower had slid and lifted a bit beneath you, forcing you to sit up on your knees to keep it from pressing against your nether regions. You were truly shocked at how fast Flowey reacted—though now you questioned if he had been turned on all this time since it exposed itself so quickly. Flowey moved himself with the help of his other vines, shifting so that he comfortably splayed out in tangled and curled tendrils at the center of the bed. Though his head still rested on the pillow just so he could look up at you easier, he had one more vine wrap around your waist to center you above him also. He was really prepared to watch you work, and apparently he knew exactly how you were going to do it.

He might have been blushing, but Flowey wore a cocky and rather smug smirk over his lips as the flowered tendril teased and rubbed between your legs. The flower you reminded yourself looking similar to the red-ginger plant on the surface. And just from it’s light teasing your body naturally shuddered, and the familiar scent connected to pleasure wafted over your senses. Your vision had gotten clouded almost instantly, your mouth salivated, and you whimpered.

Honey.

Flowey took care of your makeshift shorts, deciding that you could leave your shirt on since it didn’t stop his vines from sliding up and spreading over your skin. It almost felt like a giant hand was covering your whole torso, the warmth of his plant-tentacles had gotten rather hot as you now knelt over him, breathing shaky breaths and not exactly knowing what to do with your hands. You knew what he was implying; it was obvious he wanted you to ride him—but you had never exactly done it before.

You know, due to the whole having a magnetic attraction towards people who like being top and not preferring to be ridden.

“You seem unsure suddenly…” Flowey almost said this in a worried tone. Almost. If you didn’t know him better than you did, you would have believed the concern in his voice. But even as he said this, a slender vine lifted to brush over your cheek “What’s troubling you?”

“I’ve never done it this way before.” You admitted, swallowing down your nerves to slightly lower your hips. The moment the tip of the already seeping flowers touched your entrance, your body jolted and lifted back again. It was as if instinct told you ‘No, anything but that!’ But of course your heart was telling you otherwise. “I guess I’m a little nervous--”

“Tch.” Flowey snorted. It was apparent that he wasn’t exactly believing your innocent act. Not that it was an act, you were honestly nervous about this. So determined earlier, but suddenly with his attention dead set on you your nerves had crash landed into a sea of worry and embarrassment. After Flowey’s little scoffing noise, however, he let two of his vines wrap around your shoulders, constricting your arms and forcing them against your sides. Your breathing hitched from the squeeze, and as much as you squirmed and gasped in shock of the sudden action, Flowey just cackled lowly before grunting “Just sit on it. ”

And he pulled you down, and in a painful push the plant-like cock was forcefully shoved deep inside, sending your body into overdrive.

Your whole body sent you mixed signals, a mixture of pain and pleasure as you stiffened and tried not to move. Not painful enough to scream, but painful enough to sit as still as you possibly could. You breathed out heavily, wanting a moment to get used to him inside-- it had been a while, it made sense to take a moment.

But not for him, he was suddenly excited.

“ Move already~ ” He teased, already his vines were trying to lift your hips back up, but now you were fighting it. You were fighting it with all your might and it was obviously getting Flowey frustrated. Noticing you not lifting up again, his tugging had stopped and he huffed almost breathlessly “What gives…!”

“I said I’d do the work… didn’t I?” You gasped, your voice weak due to the state you were in “Why… are you so eager…?”

Flowey opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came.

As if he had simply done everything from pure instinct. So used to being in control, that he naturally felt the need to push you, and force you, even if you had said you’d try it out yourself. He closed his mouth then, his eyes calming as he looked away, and his hold on you loosened.

The vines that were practically like bondage against you had pulled off and dropped. Flowey let out a small noise of defeat, his head hanging low almost shamefully. But as two of his tendrils tried to slink away, you found yourself taking a hold of them and squeezing. The squeeze caused him to look back your way, watching you hold one vine in each hand. Flowey arched a brow at your action. You sighed softly, your fingers lightly wrapping around the tendrils as you mumbled “Use these like hands… and hold me up.”

Flowey took a moment just to look you up and down. Apparently, he liked what he saw, because afterwards he gave a small smile and looked back over your face. The tendrils gently, yet firmly, wrapped around your hands and gave their own reassuring squeeze before he mumbled “Okay.”

And you raised your hips, clinging to his vines as you slid yourself up slowly. Just the feel of the rough edges of his bloomed cock made your body twitch and shudder. You were still in a bit of pain from the rough entry, but with Flowey finally managing to be patient with you, and his gaze never faltering, you found yourself gaining a lot more pleasure from your motions. His eyes were fixated on yours, but the way they seemed almost entranced made you somewhat embarrassed. He seemed pleased, and the small noises that would escape him as you rocked and rolled your hips were definitely positive. Flowey’s vines had begun to crawl over your frame, cocooning you as if any second he could pull you down and take control… and for a moment you almost feared that would be the case.

You even muttered, just as you raised yourself again slightly “Flowey… you’re so needy .” You gave a small smirk, feeling his vines loosen their hold, but still remained draped over your form as the golden flower huffed breathlessly “Tch… says the one who tried to fuck me in my sleep.”

You moved your hips faster, feeling the head of his girth brush and rub the perfect spot inside you. Your body quivered, your nails sank into his vines that supported you, and you could feel your body naturally begin to tighten. Suddenly one of his vines had decided to help you out, pressing against your sensitive area and beginning to work it in time with your grinding. You squirmed on the heated plant, feeling the petals splay out inside you, feeling it twitch with Flowey’s sudden grunting. The heavy scent of sweet honey filled the room, along with your sweat that tickled your sensitive skin.

You gasped for breath, heavily breathing to pull air into your lungs as you rode him. You feel him twitch inside, the red flower oozing a sticky-sweet fluid that slipped down your thighs. The heat that filled the room was becoming overwhelming, and you found yourself moaning out. Almost uncontrollably, simply letting out your emotions as your hips started trembling. Your movements had become erratic, and the more pleasure you felt the harder it became to keep an evened pace. You huffed and slowed your motions after a bit, panting heavily as your half lidded eyes glanced down at the golden flower-- who stared at you almost wide eyed and awestruck. Which made sense, if your hazy mind could think that deeply about it. He hadn’t seen you get erotic before. And after he had finished with his long and intense stare of wonderment, he decided to intervene.

Once more, you found yourself being squeezed. The vines that curled themselves around your frame were tightening all the while Flowey lifted a bit almost excitedly. Like this was his chance to finally enjoy the ‘show’ in a different way.

And this time you allowed it. And you felt them crawl.

The tendrils slid up your shirt, rubbing over your chest needily before slithering like snakes over your mouth. With it wide open and panting, Flowey easily pressed the tip of a reddened vine against your tongue. It only took one lick for the plant to blossom another head that seeped sweet nectar, and the reminder of Flowey having fucked you with more than just one before made your body stiffen.

And as he pushed the second flower into your mouth, your body finally gave in and shuddered. You let out a weak whimper, though it was soon cut off by a cough from how deep he tried to force his cock in your mouth. Even the other tentacle-vine was starting to shove itself more deeply up inside of you. He was no longer being patient enough to let you ride-- but that was fine now, because you were in ecstasy, merely waiting for release.

Flowey probably was too, since the moment you didn’t fight back was his confirmation of being permitted to do whatever he wished. The vines you held onto for support now wrapped around your wrists and climbed up your arms to bind them together, and he yanked them over your head as you arched your back forward almost lazily. Unable to speak with your mouth full, his hazy red eyes were still stuck on yours, but he was drooling from hunger.

“I want you.” Flowey wheezed, his smile had grown. The moment you let him take control was apparently enough to drive him mad with power. His grin was practically menacing, flashing his pearly whites as they clenched and his grip on your body tightened. He stretched your arms over your head, and spread your legs more just so he could pound into you easier. Your body quivered and shook with each shove, bouncing each time he pushed up inside of you. You were mostly supported by Flowey’s tendrils hanging you by your arms, since you had lost feeling in every other part of your body.

He panted as heavily as you did. Of course, you were only trying to gasp through your nostrils, considering your mouth was occupied. Swallowing whatever honey pre-cum he dribbled down your throat as the flower inside you started to spill. It didn’t take him long before his sinister and hungry smirk and suddenly shifted to almost desperation “I need you …! Do you understand?”

The pleasure was overwhelming, suddenly you felt it. You felt him slam deep inside you and hit the perfect spot that made you yell. You yelled as best as you could with your mouth full, feeling him whimper.

In one last breath he confessed “You can’t leave me…!”

And he filled you. Your hole was filled with his honey-seed, and your mouth forced to drink his sticky fluids as you coughed and gagged. Your own body finally released, your climax bursting at the seams as you swiveled and rode out your orgasm as his vines kept at your nethers and groping your entire body. The red flower in your mouth snapped out, a string of Flowey’s honey slowly splitting to dribble down your chin, and you breathed out heavily as he continued to slowly, yet gently now, slide the petalled shaft in and out of you. His grip on your arms had loosened so that you literally sat on it with your weight, but you were alright with moving weakly on him. You still felt it, the pleasure still remained as you moved, and you would keep moving until the pleasure numbed and calmed.

Your mind was in a haze, and you continued to stare at Flowey, whose eyes were suddenly distant. As if he were looking through you now, like he had been before when he was half asleep, and he silently let a tendril clean the sticky stains on your lips. It was easy to tell when he had rode out his own orgasm, since he let out a soft sigh just as you had, and his slow thrusts had slowed to a complete stop. Your body relaxed finally, all that remained was a sore aftermath, and you weakly lifted yourself off of his already retracted length. Just as before, as if the red blooms never even existed-- as if it were a figment of your perverted imagination.

And you simply laid down next to him. You practically flopped into the pillow, and completely ignored that your hole was starting to drip from the shift in direction of your form. Flowey’s multitude of vines had depleted, and just like that his normal smaller form was all that remained. His face expressed nervousness, but he was silent as you felt your eyes grow heavy.

“The heat of the moment…” You explained softly, chuckling under your breath as he gave you a sudden confused look “I guess… I never thought I’d see you so innocent looking… and I tried to take advantage of that… I’m sorry…”

“We’re even.” Flowey said with a small smile, a vine brushing over your face as you finally gave up and closed your eyes. You hummed “Even for what…?”

“All that… I’ve ever done…” Flowey said lightly, his vine still caressing you so soothingly. As if he were truly caring and comforting you, making sure you were okay. You could feel a tingle of something over your body, but it wouldn’t quite fully get everything. You ached, but in all the right places. He finished “All that… I will ever do.”

You were drifting.

“I don’t want you to leave me…”

The rest of his words seemed almost like a distant memory, because you didn’t hear them...

Notes:

> *panting heavily* DONT LEEV MEH

>If there's grammatical errors forgive me, I'm going to a concert tomorrow and have to wake up early and it's 10:51PM right now and why am I still awake what am i doing with my life writing flower porn at a friends place everythings spiralling out of control--

Summary:

You took in a deep breath, feeling your stomach trying its hardest to settle down. You knew Chara died… but was this how it happened? “Is this… how Chara died?”

Notes:

> Part two of an epic three part series...>One human, one flower, one... uh...... mission>(makes dramatic explosion noises)>This chapter is either really short or really sub-par.... i can't tell--

>I'm sick so my sense of time is way off, sorry if it seems like I'm either pushing out chapters too fast or too slow, this story is my main focus so I'll be more active with this than anything else but I'll still be all over the place due to illness.

Chapter Text

Chapter Twenty-Four: Determined To Love P.2

Frisk wrinkled their nose “What part of ‘he’s dangerous’ don’t you understand?”

You adjusted the flowerpot in your hands, looking down at F̴̡͍͔͉̻͇̪͈̜̀̃̓̽͊̍̓̓̍͜͝l̵̡̙̺̬̳̥̲̤͍̤̑̀̽̃͑̐̐̽̓̓ö̴̧̞̘͕̪̮̰̲̯͇́̔̂̒̑̓̽͒͠w̴̢̜̭͓̪̥̥̪̰͒͑̓͂͗̋̈̚͝͠ͅë̶͓͎͕̰̞̬̱͔̙͔́̄̈́͐̌̎̃͝ỵ̵̨̹̥̦̣̤͔͍̆̿̏͗́̾͂̆̕͘ͅ who returned the look with a wide grin. He breathed out, and you simply smiled like an idiot “He’s good if you give him a chance.”

“How many chances does he need?” Frisk slowly lifted from their office desk, a red glint in their eye as they made their way around the furniture. They moved slow, yet swiftly, considering in the blink of an eye they had made it to their office door and locked it.

“He only messed up once.” You defended. Flowey wasn’t in your hands anymore.

“̶͙͈̱̐͗̾I̸̩̺̯̾̆͘ ̶̖̟͕̎͝͝t̷̨̳̬̉͐̔h̶͓͉̣͒͐̐o̴̯͚̤̍̀̓u̶̦̟̰̚͝͝g̵̦̠̗̈́͌͐h̵̨͇͚̿̈́͝t̶̨͉̦̋̔͝ ̵͓͎̻͗̎͘ÿ̴͓̗͚́̈͠o̶̧͇̦̓̍͊u̷̘͙̰̍̔͘ ̶͇̞̣́͋̔w̸͔̼̉̌̓ͅo̶̼͈͕̐̉̎ů̴͔̥̼͆͌l̶͖̣̰̐̈́͝d̸̗̻͉͌̒͝ ̴̗̱̈̈́͠ͅg̵̼̃̽̒ͅͅḯ̵̖̞̠͒v̸̳̲̹̔̀͊e̴̩̔͐̇ͅͅ ̴͈͓̮̊̊̑f̶̧͇̜̆̔̓r̴̺͈̖͆̄̔i̴̖̯̻̐̈́́e̷͚̙̹̓n̷̛̦͕͖͌̓d̴̬͚̳̈̓͝s̷̠͎͖͑̌͐ḩ̸̪̮̏͘i̵͓̭̟̿͗p̸̛͇͍̻͒͗ ̴̛̤̰̩̆̐a̶͉̬̗͂̍͐ ̵̡͓̜̀̂̒c̵̳̯̺̏̓h̷̘̹̠͋̋͝a̸̹̳̺͒͒͘n̶̝̮̰͑͋͝c̸̛̼͔̕͜͝e̴̛̥̬̙͗͒-̴̙͇̗̑͒-̶̧̟͍̈́̋̈́”̷̙̗͇͋̀̕ ̶̥̳̄̑͜Frisk breathed out, facing the door and not even bothering to turn around. The shelves that had once been full of books and research had all been emptied, all you could find were boxes full of supplies atop their desk. Were they quitting?

“I ḑ̶̥̰͍̞̼̦͈̪̤̳̳̻̀̿̆͂͗̂̈̑̏̐́͠͝ȍ̶̢̗̺͔̟̙̹̹͇̞̱̳̱͌͋͋̉̂̏̌̽̕͝ trust you!” You turned to face them, but they weren’t at the door anymore. They aren’t even in the room as they scolded, and their voice vibrated off the walls “Liar. You’re such an idiot. Falling in love with a psychopath. Don’t you see what you’re becoming?”

You looked yourself over, the room dripping away until all you are is floating in an empty space. “Who am I?”

“A̵ ̸t̵o̵y̴.̶” Frisk snickered, finally reappearing before you as darkness dribbled down their chin “He told you the Underground was his P̶l̴a̵y̶g̶r̸o̷u̶n̵d̴-̷-̴ who says you can leave with him so easily?”

You wrapped your hands around your throat, gasping softly as you curled forward. Somehow, you lost the ability to breathe properly, as if your throat was closing in on itself.

Coughing, wheezing, struggling to find some sort of air but your throat wouldn’t let you, and your stomach gurgled. At least you knew it was no longer due to hunger, you knew because you didn’t wait for the ability to breathe before you jumped out the bed and dashed for the bathroom.

You blew chunks into the toilet. Loudly.

You gagged, coughed, spat, you lurched everything you had eaten into that toilet and you could’ve sworn the toilet was sobbing from how much murder you dished out into it.

And just like that you felt worse. Far worse than you could imagine.

Your hair stuck to your face and neck, your stomach continued squirming and shifting, and your whole body had gone numb. The smell you left in the toilet didn’t help, but you didn’t dare leave it as you clung to the porcelain throne for dear life. You had a fear that the moment you left, you’d only need to throw up again-- that and you couldn’t feel your legs suddenly.

“Fuck!” You heard Flowey at the doorway-- which apparently triggered your stomach to force more fluids up your throat and out your mouth. You spat and hacked into the toilet, sniffling as you felt mucus dribble from your nose, and your eyes filled with tears from the pain. Everything had happened so fast-- what the hell was going on?

“Get in bed!” Flowey suddenly demanded, but you meekly shook your head. You couldn’t even talk-- you wanted to warn him that the moment you left the toilet you’d probably end up needing to run back to it… but then again, you could barely move. You had gotten so weak in less than a few minutes… everything had gone numb.

You felt his vines grip onto your frame, but you immediately cried. Well, you sobbed. Loudly. Your mind was in a haze, your body was being stabbed by millions of tiny needles, and the last thing you wanted was to get into bed. The vines had hesitated at your shouting, but they returned to grasping at you. You knew for sure they wouldn’t take you without a fight.

You thrashed, instinctively swatting at Flowey’s vines as he tried to get a grip on you. He growled “Stop you-- moron! I’m trying to help you!”

“I can’t breathe--!” You cried out, clinging to the toilet as you felt yourself gagging more. He was practically pulling at your legs, trying to drag you out the bathroom as you wheezed and shuddered “I can’t just--!”

“Don’t make me fucking-- dump you in the tub!” He threatened, but anything else he started to shout at you after that sentence seemed to drown out in your sobs of pain. You really didn’t want to lay in bed-- and even the smallest touch felt like a painful itch under your skin. With a heavy huff you kicked away at his vines, leaning over the toilet to gag out of reflex. The sheer thought of throwing up made you want to throw up, but nothing came out-- this time at least.

And for a bit, it seemed as if Flowey had truly left you alone. You simply sniffled and hacked into the toilet as you held on like it would blast off and away. Your stomach was in knots and you were still trying to figure out how to fix all this. There was nothing left in your stomach to hurl, but your body really did want to get rid of absolutely everything in your entire body.

Out of nowhere, Flowey splashed water over your entire body.

The sudden drench made you yelp in shock. You slipped from the toilet and hit the floor, before trying your best to lift your weight with your arms. Gasping for air, you found yourself able to breathe just a bit better, and you slowly turned your head to look at Flowey.

His own eyes were wide in horror, and though he had two vines wrapped around your legs, there were two other vines that held a now empty bucket over your head, and his leaves literally in a karate-chopping position as if he were truly ready to fight you. You couldn’t even imagine how disgusting and horrifying you looked, and how you sounded. Apparently, everything you were was enough to make Flowey want to drag you to bed, and splash water on you.

“Flowey…” You coughed, wheezing as you spat on the floor. You snorted, swallowing your own snot down your throat “Help me… please… I can’t feel… anything…”

Flowey’s expression didn’t change even a little, even as he mumbled “Let’s get you to bed…” and used his vines to carefully transport you back into the bed. You were mildly uncomfortable lying in bed in wet clothes, but apparently Flowey didn’t want to even try to remove them, since all he did once you were in bed was tuck you in. The blankets even felt too heavy for you, and you breathed out as you felt another wave of nausea wash over you.

“Flowey-- the bucket--” You pleaded, and he was already on it as he hurried back to the bathroom, as fast as his tendrils would let him crawl around, and returned with the bucket he had used to give you a reality-check bath. He held it out for you just in time for you to hurl into it. But there was nothing left-- your dinner, the snacks, you were literally throwing up clear liquids at this point.

All the while Flowey pressed a leaf to your forehead for a second, before pulling away as you had to lie back in bed.

“You have a fever.” He muttered, and you gagged “You don’t say?”

“It’s not funny.” Flowey tried again, shaking his head as he set the bucket down “This is… this is… bad. Really bad.”

“I can’t get sick now…” You realized just how close you were to leaving the Underground. You’d find plenty of medicines and things to help on the surface, it was just a matter of pacing yourself and giving Frisk the signal. You could tell them that you were also sick, and that way they would come with medical professionals to assist them in taking you home “There’s no time for me to be sick… I have to get to the barrier in time for… for Frisk…”

You tried to sit up in the bed, but even that you couldn’t do. The blanket just felt so damn heavy… why were you so weak?

“I have to… get home…!” You tried again, but with a whimper and a sigh you collapse almost breathlessly into the bed once more.

“Not now you don’t.” Flowey said, taking the bucket and carrying it to the bathroom. You figured he had dumped it, considering when he returned it was empty “I’m going to make you soup. Sorry to say this, but you gotta stay here for a bit.”

“Flowey--” You whined, but he placed a vine over your mouth quickly before clicking his tongue and sighing in response “No. Stay put. I’ll take care of you, I promise.”

You weren’t sure what to say, so all you did was give a small nod as he pulled away and left the room in a hurry. And you easily imagined him hurrying outside of the resort so he could sink into the earth and fast travel to the Ruins to make you that soup. But you weren’t even hungry-- you knew for sure now that it wasn’t hunger that made your stomach upset. But what?

You felt horribly ill… and it was a mixture of wanting to keep throwing up out your mouth, or now suddenly wanting to throw up out your ass. But you still questioned yourself; how did you wind up with some sort of flu?

Maybe it was because you ate so much in such little time? You had a whole dinner, and then a few hours later, you ate all of Flowey’s rations for your trip to the old barrier grounds. Flowey was probably right, something was wrong with you eating dinner and then scarfing down all those snacks he had made… and the sex probably didn’t help either.

Eugh, even the thought of food or sex made your stomach shift in disgust. But there was nothing left to throw up-- so you tried to simply lean your head back and swallow down anything that attempted to come out.

Flowey was kind enough to run out to try and make you soup but… you honestly doubted it’d fill you up for long. You could barely even get back to sleep you were in so much pain. You could barely move, you felt so weak, the whole room was suddenly boiling, and you were honestly expecting death again.

One more time, one more time wouldn’t hurt too badly, right?

No, you thought. Whoever’s out there keeping you alive is doing this to NOT let you die. Not to grant you an easy way out-- you knew you had to fight this.

But god damn you were shaking! Trembling even from just lying still in bed. Your throat was considerably sore, your head throbbed and pulsed like it were your actual heartbeat, and it felt like hours before Flowey actually came back with the soup he had promised.

Flowey had slid through the doorway of the bedroom suite, closing it behind him with one vine keeping a good grip on a rather tiny bowl of, what looked like, some sort of orange purée’d soup. Knowing fully well by now there was no meat down here, it was safe to assume it was a vegetable of some kind. It smelled foul-- but you hoped that was only due to being sick and not due to it actually being disgusting.

You hesitated, but tried your best to lift up a bit in the bed. When you simply couldn’t budge whatsoever, Flowey sighed as he set the bowl down and used his vines to also wrap under your arms and lift you up slightly. He event took some of the pillows and fluffed them behind your back so that you would feel more comfortable sitting upright.

“Thanks…” You managed groggily. Your very voice startled Flowey, to the point of him flinching slightly from hearing it, but he lowered his eyes back down to the bowl he re-picked up “Yeah…”

“What’s this…?” You asked, reaching out to the bowl to try and end the awkward silence. You figured you looked, sounded, and smelled disgusting at this point, but the last thing you wanted to do was also feel that way. Well, you did physically-- now all you had left was your mentality.

“Uh… sweet potato soup…?” He wouldn’t even look at you as you carefully took a spoonful and brought it to your lips. As if expecting it, he reached for the bucket at your bedside and held it up for you. With a small sip of the soup-- you were shocked that it tasted amazing-- and even moreso that your body still rejected it.

You had no time to even place the soup bowl down, instead you tossed it in the bucket as you yanked it out of Flowey’s grasp, bringing it close and hurling inside.

You gagged, coughing up the few bits of sweet potato you had swallowed down, and then some. You were starting to see stomach fluids you didn’t even know existed in your gut. And after that heave of your organs, you returned to sobbing gently into the bucket. You hugged it, embraced the horrid smell that remained from your puking, and simply let your head hang low inside of the metal bin.

You could feel Flowey brush a vine over your forehead, probably to check your temperature again, but it didn’t matter. How many times would he do this before knowing for certain you were going to die?

“You…” He breathed out meekly, his vine shuddering just before it pulled away from you. You slowly lifted your head to look at him, your eyes half lidded mostly because you couldn’t feel your face anymore as he finished “You can’t… you can’t do this to me…”

You shook your head in confusion, before spitting into the bucket. Your once clear liquids were starting to turn brown.

The sudden smack of the bucket startled you violently, and you jolted back and deeper into the bed you collapsed. Fumbling in the sheets, you hugged your arms to your chest as you stared at Flowey. His eyes were wide and wild, and his vines outstretched where you had once been. Even the thorns had elongated, almost as if ready to pierce your skin. You could feel your eyes well with tears.

“What’s wrong with you--”

“What’s wrong with me?!” Flowey snapped. You noticed that his own eyes welled with water like yours. An uncontrollable fear “Why the HELL would you eat all the snacks at once last night?!”

You swallowed, doing your best to try and sit back in your original position on the bed. Flowey’s thorns had retracted, his vines shrinking, and you shook your head as you tried to blink away your feelings “I don’t… get what that has to do with anything…”

“Me…” Flowey breathed out. He blinked and the tears streaked his already flushing face. But all he could really do was smile. His anger had subsided and turned into humor-- if not that, then it turned into denial as he confessed “It was me… I did this… I’m such an idiot-- I was so desperate… s̶o̷ ̴d̴e̵s̶p̷e̷r̸a̶t̷e̷…”

“Flowey.” You were having trouble breathing, your stomach started to burn again as you used an arm to support yourself as best as you could “Flowey, what did you do…”

He finally looked right at you, not bothering to wipe his tears as he grinned menacingly “The dinner… the snacks… they were meant to slow you down… give me time to think-- time to take care of you… but you ate them all, like a fucking…”

Flowey wheezed, as if trying his very best to keep from breaking down. It was far from too late, it was obvious considering to keep himself from name calling he decided to giggle like a lunatic “A monster would get sick-- a human would die… g̶u̷e̷s̶s̴ ̸w̵h̷i̵c̴h̶ ̸o̴n̸e̷ ̵y̸o̷u̶ ̶a̴r̶e̶…̴?̵”

You lurched. But you didn’t even bother with the bucket, you let it all out on your lap. On the bed. A pool of reddish-brown fluid spilled from your mouth, and it most definitely tasted like blood.

“I was putting it in the food...!” Flowey confessed some more, daring to reach out and let his vines cup your pain-stricken face “It was the buttercups! But just a little-- I swear it was only a little and-- and you weren’t supposed to eat it all! Why-- why did you eat everything in one day!? Y̶O̵U̸ ̵C̸A̷N̷'̵T̸…!”

He breathed heavily, his vines that held onto you were tightening, and you could feel the thorns pierce your face as he stared right into your eyes. Red-- with rage or confusion you didn’t know-- but he was completely lost again “B̴u̸t̷ ̸I̶ ̷c̵a̸n̴ ̵t̷a̵k̴e̵ ̶c̶a̸r̵e̷ ̶o̷f̵ ̶y̷o̶u̸!̵ ̷I̷ ̸p̵r̴o̴m̶i̵s̴e̴-̴-̷ ̴I̵’̴l̷l̷ ̷t̵a̵k̸e̸ ̵c̵a̶r̴e̷ ̸o̷f̴ ̴y̴o̸u̷ ̴a̴n̸d̷ ̵e̵v̵e̷r̵y̸t̴h̸i̸n̵g̴ ̶w̴i̵l̶l̵ ̷b̵e̷ ̷o̸k̵a̵y̷!̵ See? I̵ ̴t̸o̵l̷d̷ ̶y̴o̴u̸ ̸y̷o̸u̴’̵d̶ ̸f̸e̵e̶l̶ ̴a̷ ̴l̴o̶t̷ ̵b̷e̷t̷t̵e̵r̵ ̸s̵t̴a̶y̶i̵n̴g̸ ̷d̵o̵w̸n̸ ̷h̸e̶r̵e̴ ̴w̴i̵t̴h̶ ̵m̷e̵!̵ ̵A̴n̶d̷ ̸I̶ ̸w̶a̷s̵ ̷r̵i̸g̷h̵t̴!̷ ̸N̶o̸ ̴o̶n̶e̵ ̶w̸i̶l̷l̵ ̸t̵a̴k̶e̴ ̴c̴a̸r̸e̸ ̵o̴f̴ ̶y̸o̴u̴ ̴l̴i̴k̸e̶ ̴I̶ ̵w̶i̸l̴l̶!̵” Flowey giggled, it was short and sweet as he caressed your face. But because of the thorns, it was more like he gave you deep cuts all over your cheeks “Sure this isn’t… planned well but… you’ll need me now. Now you can’t live without me…” He snickered “We’re even.”

You remembered the story he had told you. The story of how Chara got sick.

It was an innocent mistake that lead to a rather horrible idea on how to help the monsters escape the Underground. Mistaking cups of butter for buttercups sounded cute, but it made Asgore really really sick. And from this came the idea that Chara, whose soul was needed to fuse with a monster in order to pass through the barrier, would kill themselves just to let Asriel fuse and escape the Underground and find a way to get everyone out.

So Chara ate a lot more than just a few buttercups.

The only difference in this story is that no one needed your soul to get through any barrier. This was simply obsession. Straight out of a novel you read about a girl who loved an artist so much she was willing to crush his legs to keep him from leaving…

“But I don’t want you to die…” Flowey snapped you out of your trance, taking your hands into his tendrils to give them a gentle squeeze. You yanked away from his touch “Die…? What…”

You took in a deep breath, feeling your stomach trying its hardest to settle down. You knew Chara died… but was this how it happened? “Is this… how Chara died?”

The name rang a bell, it caused Flowey to finally tear his face of insanity away from you. You persisted “Flowey… did Chara die from eating buttercups?”

“But you won’t!” He looked back to you and held your face again. It stung, your heart as much as your face as he leaned his own head forward to stretch it out, letting it reach and lightly press his forehead to yours “You won’t die… I know better now… I can take care of you-- I can save you... I swear it. And I’m the only one… do you understand?”

Flowey pulled away and sighed, as if he were watching a romantic comedy about a boy and his secret crush “I’m the only one who knows… so even if you left you would die up there… do you understand? I’m the only one that can save you…” Flowey’s tentacles started to crawl over you. He completely ignored the bile in your lap that now soaked into the bedsheets and your shorts underneath, and he crawled himself into your bed and beside you, letting the plant-life curl and wrap itself around you in a surprisingly soft and careful embrace “I don’t mind that you smell and look like shit… you’re only human, hehe… and you’re my human.”

You shuddered, your body stiffening up to try and reject him as best as your weakened state could.

Not again, not again not again not again.

Your mind reeled with disappointment, fear, betrayal… but also heartache. You cared so much for him, and while he did feel the same for you-- it was more like an obsession than actual feelings of… well…

Love.

He had been Underground too long. He didn’t know what love was anymore.

It was a problem both Frisk and Flowey shared, apparently. They love so much that they keep and lock away-- but true love was about knowing when to let go.

So let me go, you thought timidly.

Flowey nuzzled his head against your arm, his tendrils had fully coiled around you like a spring as he held you, almost like he were trying to comfort you when it was himself who needed much more help than you realized. You felt gross, and creeped out, and you were horribly deathly ill.

And you were officially lost. There was no way Frisk would give Flowey a chance if he were behaving like this.

Chapter Text

Chapter Twenty-Five: Determined To Love P.3

You had to eat something.

At this point, anything else would do because you were certain Flowey was still poisoning you slowly.

Thankfully, you no longer felt the need to vomit as soon as any food was forced into your belly—but you were still terribly weak to the point of not even being able to walk yourself to the bathroom. Flowey would carry you, help you sit, and though he would grant you privacy… every few seconds he would knock and ask if you were done.

You weren’t allowed to leave the suite either.

But those few moments of solace were in the restroom, which you didn’t always go just to use it, now and then you went just to get some alone time away from Flowey who had officially snapped again. What had triggered him to go this route once more? The fact that you were so terribly close to the end game and it caused him to realize that you weren’t going to actually stay with him? Maybe that was the case. Maybe he really did care about you…

Not enough to let you leave, of course. But enough to force you to stay by poisoning you just enough to keep you weak.

It was honestly horrible, you had no walker or cane to help you maneuver, so you carried your weight with your arms against whatever could support you—mostly the bathroom sink since if you weren’t using the toilet you were simply staring at yourself in the mirror.

Your skin had started to yellow like the whites of your eyes, with dark circles around your sockets, and this all happened in one day. At least, it felt like a day. Truth be told during these situations you would lose track of time. Not that you kept good track of it to begin with, but it would be far worse when Flowey snapped like he did in Alphys’ lab… and now here, at the MTT resort.

Yeah, it’s probably been a day or two since he first kept you bed ridden.

And you were heartbroken that he would go to such lengths just to make sure you stayed.

You were heartbroken, but you also assumed it was a test. For some stupid reason you figured ‘Maybe the worlds just trying to see how much I really care about him?’ Which, unfortunately for you, was a lot. You cared a lot for him and his well-being. He could impale you, he could poison you, but it wouldn’t stop how much you cared for Flowey.

Like the Yuki to his Yuno.

And here you stare at yourself again in the mirror of the bathroom, accidentally ignoring his knocking as he asks if everything’s alright. How do you tell him this time? Do you have to wait for him to shove a sharp vine through your gut and impale you like a rag doll? Or do you have to wait until you’re poisoned to death before you wag your finger gently like he’s a fucking dog and say ‘bad Flowey, bad’?

Lowering your sick gaze from yourself, you looked away and down at the doorway. A small vine was already creeping from underneath the crack of the bathroom door, carefully stretching and reaching upward for the doorknob. Of course he didn’t believe you… he was paranoid now. Paranoid that everything you said or thought was a lie and against him. Paranoid you thought he was crazy. Which, technically, he had every right to be paranoid. Because he was right. He was insane and you were miserable and every now and again you would tell yourself you hated him so much.

He turned the knob, just in time for you to lose your grip on the sink’s edge and slip. Just as Flowey swung the bathroom door open, you slid backward and prepared to smack your head against the toilet—but just in time he had grabbed you with his tendrils and yanked you back up. As if he were braces for your entire body, he clung to you and helped you stand on your feet as normal.

First thing you argued was “I thought the bathroom was my private place. Why are you in here?”

Flowey defended “If I hadn’t been you’d be unconscious. The correct response is ‘thank you for saving my ass, Flowey.”

You coughed in response, and he simply helped you walk your way right back into the bed, where he tucked you in and teasingly kissed your forehead. You knew it was clammy, because you looked at yourself in the mirror before he had barged in and walked you out. So him kissing it, let alone with him being a neat freak who hated anything disgusting or gross, was somewhat surprising to you.

He tucked you in so tightly you could’ve sworn you were feeling claustrophobia.

“Get more rest, okay?” He asked his usual rhetorical question, smiling through you as his tendrils slinked away and shriveled back into his flower pot that he had returned to walking around in “You look starved, so I’ll go and make you something to eat. I’ll be back before you know it, so just rest up.” Flowey winked at you before turning away and waddling himself over to the suite-room’s door “Don’t miss me too much.”

There were a few things you could have said in response to that, but instead you simply watched as he exited the room and left you alone.

But you were left to your own thoughts mostly, because now they ran through your head like a broken record. This time you had a chance of escape, this time you knew that things would turn shittier than they were if you didn’t escape while you could.

“Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me…” You muttered hoarsely. You felt guilty and ashamed, considering all this time you thought Flowey had gotten past this… but he hadn’t. He was dead set on assuming there was no way he could leave the Underground, and he was very certain that unless he forced you to stay, you would want to leave. He was right, of course… you didn’t plan on staying. You figured you would visit now and then, but you definitely didn’t want to stay and live Underground forever. You turned a new leaf, after all… you now had friends and connections to make, you had people to hang out with and enjoy the company of.

And you were so sure that you would convince Frisk to bring Flowey up with you… but… at this rate that was a definite no.

And then you returned to reality. Flowey was gone to make you food. And you were quite certain that said food would be more buttercup poisoning to keep you in your weakened state. Sick, tired, deathly ill… but not enough to pass out or die. He wanted you bed-ridden for the rest of your life just to keep you with him… but you knew you had to do something.

“Think… think…” You grimaced as you lifted your arms and huffed. Quickly, you threw the heavy blanket off of you and simply tossed yourself out of bed. Literally, you made sure to collapse just to get out of bed and onto the floor. You couldn’t walk correctly, and it had been that way for… well, if you’d been here for days then it had been a few days since you were able to walk on your own. No, your legs weren’t broken or anything… but you couldn’t carry your own weight anymore. You thought his food would help… until you realized you were still horribly weak and unable to take care of yourself. It took you awhile, but soon enough you realized that yes, he had been slowly poisoning you… enough to keep you alive and well, but enough to keep you stuck and dependent on him.

So then you realized what you had to do. You were disgusted, but you knew you had no other choice.

“The face steak…” You whispered, all the while literally crawling your way towards the bedroom door. Just the sheer thought of eating something that had been packaged away yet looked good as new for over any age above five years was disturbing and disgusting, but you honestly had no other choice and needed food that wouldn’t poison you. And at this rate, you even pondered if death was a sweeter escape than being at the edge of dying for the rest of your life.

Did your strength lie in your arms or legs? You couldn’t remember, and you took a moment to try and figure it out while you were staring up at the door knob that lead to your escape. Would you climb up to pull it or would you lie on your back to kick it? The reminder that you didn’t have much time to think sank in, and you found yourself struggling to get to your feet.

You let your nails sink into the wall, hoping it would grant you as much support as you needed in order to lift to your feet. It didn’t, all that provided was your nails scraping down the walls repeatedly, the old wallpaper digging under your nails and you leaving scratch marks like a wild animal were trying to escape.

You were struggling for what felt like a few good minutes before you barely stood up. Even then, you only had a split moment of grasping the handle and turning it before your legs decided they had enough and you were sent plummeting to the floor again. With a heave forward, you swung the bedroom door open, and even when you almost faceplanted on the ground you managed to do so outside of the suite. Bless. You were crawling your way carefully towards the station in the lobby.

And it was a disgusting crawl.

The main lobby wasn’t clean, and it would have been worse if you had to move any closer to the center where the mold and mildew of the gross water sprayed. But your shirt still gathered smudges and stains from strange places along the floor the more you had to drag yourself forward. By the time you reached the automatic doors of the MTT snack station, you slipped inside to let them close behind you before using the small magazine rack to help lift yourself up. You used the counter to support your weight as you moved around it towards the back of the stall, before carefully sitting yourself back down on the floor and opening the fridge.

And there it was, the face steak in all its… facely glory…

Mettaton stared right at you as you took the package from the mini-fridge and brought it into your lap. It was easier to open than it was to actually scarf it down, considering once you had opened it you simply continued staring at it as if it were infected. Which, by all means, it could have been. You wouldn’t know for sure unless you actually took a bite. All you knew was that you needed food that wasn’t poisoned, and you figured something meaty would do. If Flowey was right that there wasn’t actual meat in the Underground, then this was just another vegetarian/vegan product made to look like it. But maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, right?

You gulped, knowing that you didn’t have much time left. Flowey took his time cooking, but he was always quick to come back.

And you reminded yourself that hey, someone out there wasn’t going to let you die. At least, not permanently. So you would be okay.

Using your grubby hands to lift the meat(?) to your lips, you sniffed. At least it smelled like steak, you thought before taking a huge bite instead of a small one. It made sense, since you weren’t exactly in any position to complain. You took your time to chew on the big piece you bit into, however the more you chewed the better you felt. And suddenly you realized that the steak tasted a lot more like steak than Flowey’s meatloaf having tasted like meatloaf a couple days ago. As if super charged, you were given a rush of adrenaline in order to finish up the entire steak. And even when you were done you grabbed for the fancy parfait and opened it up to gorge it down as well. You were given a rush of energy you hadn’t had in a long while, and once you were full of food (that contained a questionable amount of nutritional value) you decided to slowly, and gently, stand yourself up to your feet. Trying to keep your balance didn’t seem as hard as it had on your way here, as if the meals had given you some sort of video game health boost.

You did a few walking exercises within the little room of the overpriced market to make sure you weren’t just hallucinating, before you figured now was the time to go back to the room.

With your new found energy, you’d be able to punch Flowey back to his senses, and simply pretend none of this ever happened.

Because, obviously, you were in denial.

You could feel your limbs gaining energy again, but it didn’t mean you were instantly at your full strength. Though you definitely knew you had enough power to clock one upside the golden demon’s head, you still had to make your way back to the room carefully due to not walking in a straight line as well as you thought you could. When you reached the suite room door, you took in a few deep breaths as you plotted everything out in your head. You would act as if everything were normal, lie in bed and pretend to still be deathly ill and in need of help,